• -'^Cir^ --•>£— O'-te- 


THIS  VOLUME 


Presbyterian  Board  of  Education, 
Philadelphia. 


Is  sent  to  you,  as  a  Presbyterian  minister,  through  the  contri-  ^j 
butions  of  a  few  who  are  interested  in  Ministerial  Education,  f 
with  the  hope  that  it  may  accomplish  three  important  objects :        | 


?           I.  To  furnish  maio'ials  fo?' the  insirticiioii  oi  congxG^gVLiion'n  '. 

>      from  t/ic  pulpit,  and  the   children  in  Sabbath-schools,   in  the  '\ 

i      essential    principles    of  that  which   is  now  the  primary  great  \ 

\     duty  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  woiwoiy:  the  enlistment  of  "  every  t 

i      one"  who  knows  and  loves  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  efforts  and  | 

T      contributions  for  the  loud    and    effectual  proclamation   of  his  f 

I     gospel  to  all  classes  and  races  of  people  in  this  land,  and  to  all  1 

4     nations  dwelling  upon  the  earth.                               ^  # 

^                                               ...  I 

2.  To  supply  a  specimen  copy,  with  the  solicitation  that  you  ? 

will    assist    in   forwarding  the   great  ends  of  the    Church,  by  k 

inducing  elders,   church-members,   Sabbath-school  instructors,  ? 

heads  of  families,  and  thinking  and  useful  men  and  women,  to  ? 

obtain  the  volume  for  their  own  perusal  and  use  in  introducing  f 

the    Divine    rule   for  Christian   giving,    so   that  it   shall    soon  « 

become  the  practice  of  all  Christian  and  good  people.  T 

c 

3.  To  remind  ministers  and  people  of  the  claims  of  a  special  » 
work  of  the  Chtirch,  that  which  has  been  ordained  by  it  to  \ 
raise  up  and  train  ministers  of  the  gospel  of  salvation ;  and  to  \ 
request  from  each  congregation,  and  professor  of  religion,  help  h 
for  that  great  work  at  this  time,  "  according  as  God  hath  ? 
prospered."  k 

WILLIAM    SPEER.  t 


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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


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Presented    by    \   T-e.a\cX(2>^V   \o\^\ar\ 

BV  772  .S67  1875  c.l 
Speer,  William,  1822-1904. 
God's  rule  for  Christian 
giving 


GOD'S    RULE 


CHRISTIAN    GIVING, 


A   PRACTICAL   ESSAY 


Science  of  Christian  Economy. 


AVILLIAM  SPEER, 

Secretary  of  tue  Presbyterian  Board  of  Education. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

1334  CHESTNUT  STREET. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1875,  by 

THE   TRUSTEES  OF   THE 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librai'ian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


WeSTCOTT  &  TlIOMSOK, 

Stereotypers  and  Eleclrotypers,  Phila, 


PREFACE 


This  volume  is  the  offspring  of  practical  necessities,  connected 
■with  the  labors  of  a  commission  and  ordination  similar  to  that  which 
Paul,  when  the  time  of  his  departure  was  at  hand,  bestowed  upon 
Timothy:  '*  "Watch  thou  in  all  things;  endure  afflictions;  do  the 
work  of  an  evangelist;  make  full  proof  of  thy  ministry." 

"  To  do  the  work  of  an  evangelist,"  the  writer  was  sent  to  China 
in  the  year  1846.  He  spent  several  years  there  amidst  the  pro- 
tracted scenes  of  that  horrible  war  by  which  Christian  nations,  for 
money,  succeeded  at  length  in  compelling  the  government  of  a  great 
and  peaceful  heathen  empire  to  legalize  a  traffic  which  was  deliber- 
ately poisoning  with  opium,  3'ear  by  year,  millious  of  its  people. 

In  the  year  1852  he  was  sent  to  California  to  preach  Christ  to  the 
Chinese  whom  the  power  of  money  brought  there,  amidst  the  tens 
of  thousands  from  all  the  nations  of  the  habitable  globe.  He  wit- 
nessed the  strange,  frantic  intoxication  of  those  multitudes;  and 
saw  the  crimes  which  men  were  willing  to  commit  for  money.  In 
1857  he  was  obliged  to  leave  his  work,  exhausted  and  expected  to 
die,  partly  because,  amidst  the  boundless  and  most  important  work 
to  be  done  in  that  field,  the  Christians  of  our  country  enabled  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  to  grant  but  a  minor  part  of  what  the 
work  demanded,  and  he  was  forced  to  add  to  his  infinitely  more 
important  labors  those  of  begging  and  working  to  get  money,  for 
building,  for  the  printing  of  a  newspaper  in  Chinese  and  English, 
and  for  supplies  of  medicine  and  books,  and  other  evangelistic 
necessities. 

In  eight  years  spent  in  the  great  and  most  interesting  home  mis- 
sion fields  of  the  far  South  and  of  the  upper  Mississippi  valley,  and 
in  the  years  since  1865,  amidst  the  toils  of  an  office  whose  end  is  to 
raise  up  and  qualify  laborers  for  all  the  immense  harvests  which 
have  been  referred  to,  the  experience  has  been  the  same.  The 
greater  and  more  important  work,  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and 
the  increase  and  training  of  the  men  who  are  needed  by  hundreds 


4  PEEFACE. 

■where  the  Church  is  supplj'ing  tens,  is  ever  and  ever  dragged  to  the 
earth  by  the  simple  want  of  that  which  Christians  in  America  have 
in  abundance  to  give,  but  do  not  give :  money. 

It  has  been  such  necessities  as  these  which  have  driven  the  writer 
first  to  study,  with  prayer,  every  text  from  the  beginning  to  the  end 
of  the  word  of  God  which  relates  in  any  way  to  money ;  next,  to 
inquire  into  the  lessons  of  the  history  of  the  Church  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  since  his  ascension,  to  ascertain  what  have  been  its 
experiences  as  to  money;  then  to  look  into  questions  of  political 
economy,  national  finance,  and  commerce,  which  could  throw  light 
upon  the  subject  of  money. 

By  these  means  he  has  been  led  to  the  overwhelming  conviction 
that  God  has,  in  his  omniscient  wisdom,  and  forethought,  and  grace 
through  Christ  Jesus,  made  known  to  the  New  Testament  Church  a 
suflBcient  Kule  for  Giving,  and  the  principles  which  should  regulate 
it.  The  preparations  for  it  in  the  Old  Testament,  the  preaching  of 
John  the  Baptist,  the  personal  teaching  and  example  of  the  Son  op 
God,  the  antecedent  and  succeeding  instructions  of  the  epistles  and 
the  book  of  Revelation,  have  given  to  this  Rule — wonderfully  brief 
as  it  is,  and  simple  and  easy  to  be  remembered,  and  adapted  to  all 
life's  way-faring  men,  so  that  though  fools  they  need  not  err  therein 
— a  dignity  and  power  which  prove  that  it  is  divine. 

To  explain,  to  illustrate,  to  impress,  and  to  put  into  effectual  use, 
for  the  good  of  the  Church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  fur  the 
conversion  of  the  world  to  him,  God's  Rule  for  Christian  Giving, 
is  the  one  object  of  this  volume. 

In  this  earnest,  practical,  and  hopeful  era,  men  have  sought  out 
and  made  useful  to  them  the  great  principles  of  many  departments 
of  physical  science,  of  political  economy,  now  made  broader  and 
nobler  as  "social  science,"  and  of  moral  science.  The  present 
seems  to  be  a  time  for  Christians  to  advance  from  the  past  hortatory 
way  of  treating  the  subject,  to  consider  the  great  principles  of 
religious  and  ecclesiastical  finance,  for  which  perhaps  no  more 
appropriate  name  can  be  found  than  that  of  the  Science  of  Chris- 
tian Economy.  Upon  it  depend  many  momentous  questions  related 
to  that  rapid  and  general  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  our  Loud 
Jesus  Christ,  which  should  now  be  the  great  aim  and  employment 
of  his  Church. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  I. 

THE  DIVINE  GIFT  OF  MONEY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Greatness  op  the  Subject.  Interest  at  this  time.  What  God 
teaches.     Extent  of  Subject.     The  foundation  Text Page  11 

CHAPTER   II. 

The  Attributes  of  God  Manifest  in  the  Creation  of  the 
PRECIOUS  Metals  and  the  Constitution  op  Money.  Import- 
ant Office  of  the  Metals  in  Creation.  Empire  of  each.  The 
honorable  attributes  of  Gold  and  Silver.  Most  important  Use 
as  Money.  Illustrations  in  History.  Problems  of  Elixir  of  Life 
and  Philosopher's  Stone.  Coining  Money  an  attribute  of  Sov- 
ereignty;  often  a  Religious  act.  Money  in  Society  like  Blood  in 
the  body  or  Water  in  nature.  Gold  and  Silver  the  only  suitable 
Materials.  Influence  upon  Industry,  Intellectual  Progress,  and 
Religion.  Imperishable  nature.  Adaptation  to  all  Classes  and 
Wants.  Universal  Sovereignty.  Ranked  by  Jesus  Christ  as  a 
god.     An  Eternal  Curse  or  Blessing Page  21 

CHAPTER  III. 

Reavards  and  Penalties  Connected  avith  Money.  Peculiar 
Sacredness  of  Blood  in  the  Ancient  Law,  Gold  and  Silver  an 
Equivalent  for  it.  Redemption  of  Sons,  Daughters,  Animals, 
or  Things  devoted.  Essential  sameness  of  Capital  and  Labor ; 
Money  is  Life.  God's  special  Curse  upon  Covetousness.  Re- 
sponsibility for  our  Brother's  Blood.  Mysterious  Blood-cracks  in 
Chinese  Porcelain.  The  Disease  of  enervated  and  invalid  Chris- 
tians and  Churches I*age  25 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Education  op  Man  as  a  Son  of  God.  Beautiful  Illustration 
from  an  Oriental  Nurse.  Heavenly  Grace  in  Christ.  The  Lord's 
Prayer.  Design  in  the  Creation  of  the  World.  Royal  Prepara- 
tions for  a  Royal  Race.  Purposes  of  the  Levitical  Dispensation, 
Guardianship  and  Instruction.  God's  Lessons  as  to  use  and 
abuse  of  Gold  and  Silver.  Discipline  of  Israel  as  the  Channel 
of  blessings  to  Mankind.  "All  Things  are  Yours."  Covetous- 
ness the  Sum  of  all  Sins,  Warnings  of  the  Forerunner.  Per- 
sonal Te^iohing  apd  Moiiitious  qf  tLje  Son  of  God.     The  Gospe| 

5 


6  CONTENTS. 

for  the  Poor  in  Spirit.  Two  great  Antagonistic  Powers,  God 
and  Mammon.  Life  and  Teachings  of  Jesus  Christ.  A  Grand 
Heavenly  Lesson  of  Beneficent  Charity.  Influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  on  Believers.  Results  of  the  Outpouring  at  Pentecost. 
Curse  upon  Ananias  and  Sapphira.  The  Great  Principle  as  ex- 
plained in  the  Epistle.  Mankind  to  become  "  Children  of  God." 
Heavenly  Destiny Page  26 

CHAPTER  V. 

Development  op  Pecuniary  Beneficence  in  the  Christian 
Church.  Five  great  Progressive  Stages,  First  Stage,  Christ 
and  the  Apostles.  Period  of  Wondrous  Energy.  The  Church 
undertakes  the  Conquest  of  the  World.  Astonishing  Liber- 
ality of  Primitive  Christians.  Defects.  Lessons  to  Subsequent 
Ages.  Second  Stage,  Era  of  Constantino.  Remarkable  Charac- 
ter of  the  Emperor.  Liberal  sup))ort  of  Christianity  by  Law. 
New  Christian  Metropolis  of  the  VVorld.  Failure  of  Second  Ex- 
perience of  the  Church.  Pernicious  Influence  upon  the  Clergy. 
Subsequent  Experiences  of  Waldenses,  Puritans,  English  Estab- 
lished Churches.  Third  Stage,  Era  of  Hildebrand.  Church 
Stronger  than  the  State.  Dispenses  Thrones  and  Possessions. 
Origin  of  Corrupt  Doctrines  and  Practices  of  Romanism.  Won- 
derful Magnificence  of  Rome.     Coming  Judgments P(^ge  39 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Era  op  the  Repormation  ,•  its  Benefits.  Divine  Purpose:  Pre- 
paration, Discipline,  and  Organization.  Great  Classes  of  Illus- 
trations. Restoration  of  Spirituality  of  Faith.  Benefits  related 
to  Intellectual  Improvement  of  Mankind.  Awakening  of  Men 
to  Political  and  Social  Rights.  Improvement  of  Physical  Con- 
dition of  the  Human  Race.  Agencies  for  Universal  Diffusion  of 
Benefits  of  Kingdom  of  Christ.  Peculiar  Financial  Benefits  of 
this  Era.  Immense  Influx  of  Precious  Metals.  Different  Forms 
and  Extensive  Use  of  Credit  System.  Beneficial  Effects  to  Poorer 
Classes  of  Society Page  53 

CHAPTER    Vn. 

Defects  op  the  Reformation  and  their  Results.  The  Great 
Doctrinal  Defect.  Ideas  of  Luther,  Melancthon,  and  others  as  to 
Christian  Ordinances.  The  Great  Practical  Defect.  Pecuniary 
Wants  Supplied  by  Confiscations  of  Roman  Church  Property. 
The  Reformation  gave  Energy  to  Romanism.  Comparison  of  Ro- 
man and  Protestant  Missions.  Misimprovement  of  God's  Bless- 
ings the  Blight  of  the  Church  Within.  Effect  of  Wealth  on  Love 
of  Self.  Variety  of  Forms  of  this  Cancer  of  the  System.  Ca- 
lamitous Influence  of  Protestantism  without  the  Gospel  upon  the 
Nations  of  the  World.  Want  of  Religious  Ends  in  Manufactures 
and  Agriculture.  Godlessness  of  Protestant  Commerce.  Zeal  of 
Buddhists,  Mohammedans,  Paiaccs,  Romanists.     Illustrations  in 


CONTENTS.  7 

Eastern  Asia.  Burke's  Descriptions  of  British  Government  in 
India.  Terrible  Representative  Scene  in  tlie  Opium  War.  Ques- 
tion of  the  Balance  of  Good  or  Evil  in  the  Results  of  Protestant- 
ism  Page  63 

PART  II. 

THE  DIVINE  RULE  FOR  THE  CHRISTIAN  USE 
OF  MONEY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

The  Necessity  for  a  Divine  Rule  for  Christian  Giving.  Why 
is  Christianity  unsuccessful  until  now  ?  Chief  End  for  which  God 
made  the  Precious  Metals.  Presumption  that  the  Omniscient 
Head  of  the  Church  would  reveal  a  Pecuniary  System  for  its 
Maintenance.  Perfection  of  God's  Material  and  Moral  Govern- 
ment. The  Spirit  of  the  Old  Testament  proves  the  Need  of  such 
a  System.  Religion  the  great  Business  of  a  Human  Being.  Gifts 
of  Pecuniary  Proceeds  require  a  Regular  Method.  The  Teaching 
and  Gospel  of  Christ  Based  upon  an  Implied  System.  Three 
Leading  Features,  relative  to  Personal  Love,  Faithfulness  in 
Duty,  and  Measure  of  Results.  "  Not  under  Law,  but  under 
Grace,"  explained.  Greater  Wants  of  Christianity.  Great  Ne- 
cessities of  the  Present  Era,  like  those  of  the  Era  of  Christ,  man- 
ifested in  the  Decay  of  False  Religions.  Insufficiency  of  the 
American  Voluntary  System.  Rejection  by  Scotch  Free  Church,  {^^y^ 
Universal  Manifestation  at  Home.  The  Promised  Power  from  on 
High  indicates  Want  of  Financial  Machinevv.  The  Roman  Laws 
and  Roman  Roads.  Kindred  and  Mightier  Preparations  for 
Christ's  kingdom  now Page  80 

CHAPTER  11. 

The  Progressive  Revelation  op  God's  Will  as  to  Christian 
Giving.  No  Complete  Systematic  Statements  in  Scripture.  Suc- 
cessive Revelation  of  Great  Principles  in  the  three  Dispensations. 
Illustration  as  to  the  Atonement  j  as  to  the  Sabbath;  as  to  the 
Divine  Rule  for  Giving,  Relationship  of  the  three  Dispensations. 
Revelation  as  to  Giving  progressive  in  the  New  Testament.  De- 
sign of  this  Epistle.  Conciseness  and  Perfection  of  the  Formula 
for  Giving.  Examination  of  the  Form  of  the  Rule.  Sequel  to 
the  Doctrine  of  the  Resurrection.  Its  Positive  and  General  Cha- 
racter. Its  Permanence.  Designed  to  be  a  Ptegular  Ordinance. 
Summary  of  Instructions  Contained  in  it Page  100 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Spirit  op  a  Primitive  Christian  Sabbath  :  Its  Worship  and 
Instructions.  The  Worship  of  a  Primitive  Christian  Sabbath. 
Not  sensual  as  Romanist.  Not  austere  as  Puritan.  Not  wanting 
in  Fervor,  as  Modern.  The  True  Christian  Sabbath.  Ideal  taken 
from  the  Great  Jewish  Festivals.    Description  by  Writers  of  that     . 


b  CONTENTS. 

Age.  Picture  by  Justin  Martyr :  by  TertulHan.  Joyful  Character 
of  the  Primitive  Worship.  Primitive  Christian  Hymns.  Pledge 
of  a  Millennium  and  of  Heaven.  Modern  Music  for  Children.  The 
Instruction  of  a  Christian  Sabbath.  Example  of  Jesus.  Unlike 
Modern  Preachers.  Sabbatic  Form  of  Paul's  Epistles.  Proper 
Employment  of  Sunday  Afternoon  and  Evening.  Ai)propriate 
Themes  from  Scripture.  Ecclesiastical ;  Suited  to  Various  Classes ; 
Particular  Objects;  Related  Themes.  Interest  of  the  People; 
Illustration  by  Pictures,  Maps,  etc.  Substitute  for  the  Monthly 
Concert.  Grand  End  of  Ail,  Jesus  Christ;  the  Island  in  the  Pa- 
cific. Three  Powers  that  will  Conquer  the  World.  Prayer.  Per- 
sonal Labors  and  Influence.     Giving  of  Money Page  114 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Primitive  Communion;  Gifts  in  Worship.  Latin  Words  for 
Communion  and  Sacrament.  New  Testnment  Meanings  of  "  Com- 
munion." Conduct  of  Christ.  Apostolic  Example.  The  Central 
Scene  of  Sabbath  Enjoyment  and  Duties.  Practical  Communion 
of  Christians.  "Feast  of  Charity."  Oriental  Ideas  of  Honorary 
Gifts.  Want  of  Comprehension  of  them  in  the  West.  Their  Pro- 
priety, Beauty,  and  Importance.  Gifts  of  Sabbath  Worship  and 
Communion.  "  None  shall  appear  before  the  Lord  empty."  Not 
Communism.  Offerings  to  the  King.  Ideas  of  Commentators. 
Objects  of  Appropriation  of  Gifts  from  the  Ancient  Church.  Duty 
of  Pastors  now;  Need  of  the  Holy  Spirit Page  138 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Church  the  Sufficient  and  Responsible  Agency.  Specific 
Object  of  the  Church  Remedial.  Personal  Labors  of  Christ.  Suc- 
cessful Experiments  of  Chalmers.  The  Congregational  Organi- 
zation. Office  of  Deacon:  Views  of  Calvin  and  Knox.  Office  of 
Deaconess;  Sentiments  of  Commentators;  Why  not  favored  by 
John  Knox,  Note  ;  Office  of  Evangelist,  Permanent  and  Import- 
ant. Why  have  these  Offices  Lapsed?  Need  of  Return  to  Spirit 
of  Primitive  Christianity.  Superintendence  of  Work  by  Church 
Courts Page  152 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Primary  Secular  Object  op  Sabbath  Giving  Periodicity.  The 
Foundation  Stone  of  Financial  Operations  Vital  in  the  Commer- 
cial World.  Same  in  the  Church.  Vast  influence  of  Law  of  Period- 
icity in  Nature.  Galileo's  discovery  of  the  Pendulum.  Its  im- 
portance in  Modern  Sciences.  Precision  of  God's  Government. 
Lesson  in  the  Levitical  Dispensation Page  166 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Sabbath  Giving  requires  Frequency.  Necessary  to  Objects  of  a 
Missionary  Church.  Sabbath  Gifts  of  Primitive  Christians. 
Weekly  System  of  Free  Church  of  Scotland.  Educational  Influ- 
ence of  Frequent  Giving.   Benefits  to  Mind  and  Heart.   Exhorta- 


CONTENTS.  y 

tions  of  Clement  of  Rome.  Christianit,y  is  to  be  Adapted  to  the 
Poor.  Secula.r  Ideas  of  Frequent  Giving.  Taxes  on  Coft'ee,  Tea 
and  Lucifer  Matches.  Divisions  of  Payment  on  Stocks  and  Mer- 
chandise.     Benefits  to  Poor  Men Page  172 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Individual  Responsibility.  God's  Word  makes  Religion  Personal. 
Ordinances  are  Designed  for  ''  Every  One."  Liberality  of  Richard 
Baxter.     Powerful  Appeal  of  Baxter  on  Covetousness....Po/ye  180 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Universal  Privilege  of  Giving.  Departments  of  Ancient 
Temple  Courts.  Appropriation  to  Classes  of  Worshipers.  Every 
Class  of  Worshipers  should  bring  Gifts.  Women  in  Heathen 
Temples.  Christ's  Welcome  of  Children's  Gifts.  Offerings  from 
Women.  Gifts  from  the  Poor.  Remarkable  Story  of  Jesus' Brethren 
before  the  Emperor  Diocletian.  Provision  for  Strangers.  Should 
the  Ministry  be  governed  by  the  New  Testament  Rule  of  Giving? 
Tenths  from  the  Levites.  The  Half-Shekel  from  Christ.  Comfort 
and  Power  to  the  Ministry.  Financial  Benefit  to  the  Church.  The 
Time  of  Reformation Page  185 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Power  op  Universal  CoiMbination.  Every  Individual  a  Share. 
Effect  in  supporting  a  National  Postal  System.  Posts  of  the  Ro- 
man Empire.  Vast  Postal  System  of  the  United  States.  Success 
of  French  Popular  Loans.  Financial  Lessons  of  our  Civil  War. 
Evils  of  Partial  Methods  of  Contribution.  Injury  of  Arbitrary 
and  Unequal  Taxes.  Failui-e  and  Odiousness  of  Income  Taxes. 
Evidence  from  the  Success  of  Methodism.  Isaac  Taylor's  .Judg- 
ment  P^iye  198 

CHAPTER   XI. 

The  Cultivation  op  Personal  Character.  Splendid  history  of 
John  Chrysostom.  His  Picture  of  the  Priesthood  of  the  Christian. 
Interpretation  of  Words  'May  by"  and  "treasure,"  in  the  Rule. 
Leading  Object  to  Enlist  Prayer.  The  Vision  of  Ezekiel.  Spirit 
of  Christ  and  the  Apostles.  Beneficence  a  Regular  Principle  of 
Christian  Life.  Regularity  in  Diet.  Religious  Epilepsy.  Every 
Kind  of  Employment  to  be  Spiritualized.  Giving  a  Grace.  Oriental 
Idea  of  "  Righteousness."  Beautiful  extract  from  Augustine.  In- 
ducement to  Personal  and  Home  Efforts.  Effect  of  Personal  Dis- 
tribution. Experience  of  Dr.  Guthrie.  Catholic  Epistle  of  Barna- 
bas.     Example  of  Admiral  Foote Page  212 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Safeguard  of  Religious  and  Civil  Liberty.  Lessons  from 
a  Legal-tender  Note.  Meaning  of  an  Act  of  Congress.  Checks 
and  Balances;  Judiciary  System;    Jealous  Guard  of  Individual 


10  CONTENTS. 

Rights  by  the  State.  The  Sacred  Trust  of  Religious  Liberty.  The 
Three  Chief  Seats  of  Religious  and  Civil  Liberty.  Michaelis  on 
Resemblance  of  Israel  to  Switzerland.  The  great  Ptcpublioof  the 
New  World.  Education  of  Israel  in  the  Spirit  of  Liberty ;  by  Offer- 
ings and  Worship.  Beautiful  Act  in  Presenting  First  Fruits. 
Every  one  to  Bring  his  Gifts.  Oriental  Treasuries.  Various  Forms, 
Sizes  and  Objects.  The  Permanent  Guaranty  of  Liberty.  Each 
one  "  Himself"  to  Deposit.  Contributions,  Envelopes  and  Boxes. 
Dangers  of  Ecclesiastical  Assessments.  Resist  Beginnings  of 
Evil.  Gigantic  Corruptions  from  Small  Seed.  Republicanism  of 
Apostolic  Church.  Modern  Republicanism  in  Church  and  State. 
Effect  of  Principle  of  Individuality  upon  Society.  Statement  by 
H.  C.  Carey.  Religious  the  Foundation  of  Civil  Liberty.  Opinions 
of  Webster,  Bancroft,  and  Lieber Page  228 

CHAPTEE  XIII. 

The  Measure  of  Christian  Giving.  The  Farmer,  Merchant,  King, 
employ  Sufficiency  for  Designs.  Interpretation  of  Words  "  Accord- 
ing as"  and  ''Prosper."  Building  of  Solomon's  and  Hezekiah's 
Temples.  The  Temple  on  the  Great  Rock.  Consecration  of  Gifts 
Retrospective.  ''No  gatherings."  The  Divine  Seal  upon  Prop- 
erty. Offerings  of  a  Tenth.  Instructions  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  His 
Sanction  of  Tithes;  Occasion  just  previous  to  his  Death.  The  Origi- 
nal Appointment.  Patriarchal  Examples.  Essential  Principles 
fixed  by  the  Creator.  Evidences  from  Literature  and  Usages  of 
all  Nations.  The  Means  for  Maintenance  of  Worship  as  Neces- 
sary as  the  Time.  Table  of  Decimal  Characters.  Ancient 
Chaldean  Legends,  Note.  Important  Fundamental  Maxim  as  to 
Levitical  Types;  refer  to  Duties  of  Believer  as  well  as  Sacrifice 
of  Christ.  Tithe-paying  in  Israel.  First  Tenth,  for  Levites  and 
Charity.  Second  Tenth,  for  Festival  and  Family  Uses.  Spirit  of 
the  Jewish  Contributions;  Entirely  Voluntary;  Easily  Borne. 
Extract  from  Dr.  Wines  on  Hebrew  Laws.  Interpretation  by 
Heathen  Converts,  as  to  Measure  of  Gifts.  Spirit  and  Methods 
of  the  Primitive  Church.  Extracts  from  Chrysostom.  Quali- 
fications of  Proportionate  Giving.  Adaptation  to  Christians  of 
All  Classes.  Its  Efficiency.  Special  Vows  and  Gifts.  The  Occa- 
sions and  Benefits Page  242 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  Homage  Due  the  King.  The  Demand  of  Homage.  The  Coro- 
nation Day.  The  Sign  and  Seal  of  Loyalty.  Punishment  of  Re- 
fusal. Empires  and  Men  Broken  with  a  "  Rod  of  Iron."  Pro- 
priety of  the  Demand.  The  Office  of  Christian  America.  Primi- 
tive Christianity  Planted  upon  a  New  Hemisphere.  The  Final 
Exhibition  of  her  Heavenly  Spirit  and  Power.  Office  of  America 
in  the  Dispensation  of  the  Holy  Spirit Page  269 


GOD'S   RULE 

FOR 

CHRISTIAN    GIVING. 


PART   I. 

THE  DIVINE  GIFT  OF  MONEY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GREATNESS  OF  THE  SUBJECT. 

"  I  will  shake  all  nations, 

And  the  Desire  of  all  nations  shall  come : 

And  I  will  fill  this  house  with  glory,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

The  silver  is  mine,  and  the  gold  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

The  glory  of  this  latter  house  shall  be  greater  than  of  the  former, 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

And  in  this  place  I  will  give  peace,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts." 

"  They  shall  not  appear  before  the  Lord  empty :  every  man  shall 
give  as  he  is  able,  according  to  -the  blessing  of  the  Lord  thy  God 
which  he  hath  given  thee." 

"  Give  alms  of  such  things  as  ye  have ;  and  behold  all  things  are 
clean  unto  you." 

"  Covetousness  is  idolatry." 

"  Will  a  man  rob  God?     Yet  ye  have  robbed  me, 

But  ye  say,  Wherein  have  we  robbed  thee  ? 

11 


12       god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

In  tithes  and  offerings. 

Ye  are  cursed  with  a  curse ; 

For  ye  have  robbed  me;  even  this  whole  nation." 

"  Make  to  yourselves  friends  (with)  the  mammon  of  unrighteous- 
ness, that,  when  ye  fail,  they  may  receive  you  into  everlasting  hab- 
itations." * 

GmniiheWs  Translation. — "  With  the  deceitful  mammon  procure  to 
yourselves  friends,  who,  after  your  discharge,  may  receive  you  into 
the  eternal  mansions." 

IT  may  be  said  with  trutli  that  the  Christian  world  has 
never  at  any  previous  time  so  earnestly  directed  its 
thoughts  to  the  claims  and  uses  of  money  as  it  is  doing 
now.  A  great  necessity  is  laid  upon  it  by  the  condition  of 
the  world  and  of  the  Church,  which  is  without  a  parallel  in 
the  past. 

It  may  be  said  further,  that  never  before  have  men  been 
so  desirous  as  now  to  learn  what  GOD  teaches  and  com- 
mands in  the  book  of  eternal  truth,  with  regard  to  this 
subject. 

It  requires  a  study  of  only  a  limited  number  of  texts,  out 
of  the  multitude  in  the  bible  which  relate  to  money,  to  lead 
almost  any  thinking  person  to  the  conclusion  that  no  one  of 
us  comprehends  and  measures  the  true  nature  of  money, 
and  its  office  and  importance  in  the  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth.  Such  an  examination  convicts  the  Church  in  modern 
ages  of  failure  to  employ  it  in  acts  of  worship  and  service 
according  as  God  has  ordained.  It  reveals  the  source  of  an 
immeasurable  loss  to  Christians  of  spiritual  strength,  of 

*  Hag.  ii.  7-9.  Deut.  xvi.  16,  17.  Luke  xi.  41.  Col.  iii.  5. 
Mill.  iii.  8,  9.     Luke  xvi.  9. 


GPtEATNESS   OF   THE  SUBJECT.  13 

heavenly  J03',  of  comfort  amidst  earthly  troubles,  and  of 
hope  in  death.  It  brings  to  light  one  of*  the  great  causes 
of  the  vast  and  abounding  iniquity  and  crime  in  the  world. 
It  shows  why  glorious  and  everlasting  rewards  are  promised 
for  the  faithful  use  of  money,  and  why  eternal  penalties  are 
attached  to  its  abuse. 

The  subject  is  so  vast,  its  relationships  so  extensive,  its 
applications  so  important,  that  we  are  precluded,  for  the 
ends  of  a  Manual  such  as  this,  the  attempt  to  present 
more  than  a  summary  of  the  great  principles,  and  of  prom- 
inent facts  necessary  to  illustrate  them,  which  are  plainly 
related  to  the  particular  Divine  ordinance  respecting  the 
pecuniary  gifts  of  New  Testament  believers:— "Upon  the 
first  day  of  the  week  let  every  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in 
store  as  God  hath  prospered  him." 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  ATTRIBUTES  OF  GOD  MANIFEST  IN  THE 
CREATION  OF  THE  PRECIOUS  METALS  AND 
THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  3I0NEY. 

TN  order  that  mankind  in  every  continent,  whatsoever  their 
-*-  employments,  might  fill  them  with  the  spirit  of  religion, 
and  make  them  practical  for  its  great  designs,  God  created 
at  the  beginning  and  bestowed  upon  our  race  an  extraor- 
dinary gift,  that  of  the  metals. 

The  metals  form  a  department  of  the  Divine  work  of 
creation  which  has  performed  a  most  important  office  in  con- 
stituting the  globe  a  nobler  home  for  man.  They  have  fur- 
nished it  with  a  most  efiective  means  for  ministering  to 
the  happiness,  and  promoting  the  education  and  improve- 
ment, of  the  human  family ;  or,  when  abused,  one  for  inflict- 
ing upon  it  the  judgments  of  God.  A  history  of  gold, 
silver  or  copper,  or  one  of  iron,  tin  or  lead,  would  be 
immeasurably  more  valuable  and  interesting  to  us  than  the 
records  of  any  one  nation  or  race  that  has  ever  existed  on 
the  earth. 

The  qualities  and  uses  of  the  metals  are  vitally  related  to 
the  supply  of  most  of  the  common  wants  of  man,  to  the 
progress  of  civilization,*  to  the  support  and  ceremonies  of 

*  Writers  on  metallurgy  insist  much  on  the  jioint  that  the  profi- 
ciency in  the  working,  and  the  extent  of  the  use,  of  the  metals  by 
a  nation  is  one  of  the  best  evidences  of  its  measure  of  civilization. 
14 


THE   PKECIOUS   METALS.  15 

true  or  false  religion  in  all  lands,  and  even  to  the  general 
operations  of  Nature.  We  are  continually  more  and  more 
surprised  at  the  extent  and  variety  of  their  presence  and 
influence  in  all  the  realms  of  inanimate  or  animate  matter. 
They  exist  in  the  waters  of  the  oceans  which  surround  the 
globe ;  they  originate  and  control  some  of  the  most  subtle 
and  mighty  forces  of  Nature.  They  are  detected  in  the 
analysis  of  the  light  which  comes  to  us  from  the  planets, 
and  from  stars  which  are  inconceivably  remote. 

The  empire  of  each  metal  is  distinct,  and  its  Divine  ends 
different.  The  ancients  imagined  that  they  were  severally 
related  to  the  sun,  moon,  or  one  of  the  planets ;  and  that 
each  affected  in  its  own  way  the  health  and  prosperity  of  the 
human  race.  Gold  was  the  metal  related  to  the  sun,  silver 
to  the  moon,  quicksilver  to  Mercury,  tin  to  Jupiter,  iron  to 
Mars,  copper  to  Venus,  and  lead  to  Saturn.  So  powerful 
and  so  extensive  was  this  superstition  that  the  astronomical 
signs  for  the  planets  are  still  used  in  various  countries  of 
Europe  by  chemists  as  signs  for  the  metals,  and  there  are  mul- 
titudes who  yet  believe  themselves  and  others  to  be  affected 
for  good  or  evil  by  those  related  influences,  and  consult  astrol- 
ogers with  regard  to  them.  Each  metal  was  also  associated 
with  a  day  of  the  week ;  gold  with  Sunday. 

Gold  is  styled  "the  royal  metal."  God  makes  a  special 
claim  to  it  and  to  silver.  "  The  gold  and  the  silver  are  mine, 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  These  two  are  endowed  with 
the  most  honorable  attributes.  They  are  specially  designated 
as  appropriate  for  offerings  to  God,  and  to  human  beings  in 
the  highest  authority.  They  are  the  most  beautiful,  brilliant 
and  permanent  in  color ;  they  are  the  most  easily  shaped  by 


IQ       god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

the  hammer,  graver  or  mould ;  they  receive  the  most  deli- 
cate impressions;  and  they  resist  more  successfully  than 
any  other  metals  the  destructive  effects  of  time  and  the 
elements. 

The  properties  of  these  two  metals  peculiarly  suit  them  to 
the  purposes  of  adornment.  They  are  the  appropriate  setting 
of  the  most  costly  gems.  They  are  the  materials  for  crowns, 
and  sceptres,  and  signets,  and  all  the  insignia  and  ornaments 
of  priestly  and  royal  office.  They  are  designed  to  give,  and 
preserve  imperishahly,  the  external  splendor  and  glory  of 
temples  and  palaces.  They  are  the  substances  in  nature 
which  mankind  spontaneously  shape  into  forms  to  express 
honor  and  affection,  and  to  convey  pleasure. 

But  the  most  important  general  use  for  which  God  gave  to 
mankind  the  precious  metals  was  that  they  might  con- 
stitute a  universal  medium  of  commercial  exchange  and 
standard  of  material  values,  and  thus  be  an  equivalent  and 
representative  of  all  the  varied  and  countless  products  of 
human  labor.  This  creates  them  a  capable  agency  of  the 
general  purposes  of  human  wisdom,  skill,  enterprise  or 
power ;  a  means  of  satisfying  most  of  the  wants  and  desires 
of  the  heart  of  man  as  to  this  world ;  and  a  mighty  aux- 
iliary in  the  extension  of  God's  glorious  spiritual  k'ingdom 
on  earth.  No  temporal  gift  of  God  to  man  is  more  val- 
uable, gives  more  evidence  of  his  omniscient  goodness,  or 
should  excite  in  us  more  gratitude,  than  that  of  money. 
Let  us  turn  our  eyes  for  a  moment  upon  some  of  the  grand 
illustrations  of  these  assertions. 

It  requires  but  a  limited  knowledge  of  history,  and  reflec- 
tion upon  it,  to  learn  that  everywhere,  and  in  all  ages,  no 


THE   PEECIOUS   METALS.  17 

power  of  civilized  society  has  been  so  extensive,  so  subtle, 
so  various,  and  so  mighty,  as  that  of  money. 

No  problems  of  science  have  enlisted  the  interest  of  the 
learned  and  the  powerful  of  all  nations  and  all  ages  Hke  the 
two  imaginary  ones  of  an  elixir  of  life,  and  a  philosopher's 
stone  capable  of  transmuting  all  the  baser  metals  into  gold. 
Researches  to  discover  them  may  be  traced  in  the  history  of 
the  most  barbarous  and  most  distant  races.  They  are  carried 
on  even  in  the  laboratories  of  this  age  and  of  our  own 
country.  For  to  possess  the  secrets  of  a  source  of  inex- 
haustible life  and  vigor,  and  of  commanding  the  universal 
power  of  gold,  would  clothe  a  man  with  the  very  attributes 
of  divinity.  Had  an  Alexander  or  a  Napoleon  held  them, 
he  would  inevitably  have  made  the  entire  globe  obey  his  will. 

The  governments  of  the  world  hold  it  to  be  an  attribute  of 
sovereignty  to  coin  money.  They  adjudge  it  one  of  the 
greatest  of  crimes,  and  by  some  of  them  punishable  with 
death,  to  counterfeit  what  is  so  vital  to  their  existence. 

Heathen  nations  conceive  that  certain  deities  inhabit, 
vivify,  and  control  the  tendencies  and  courses  of  money. 
They  sometimes  coin  money  in  temples,  with  religious  cere- 
monies. No  gods  are  so  generally  courted,  or  feared,  as  the 
gods  of  money,  in  view  of  their  presumed  influence  over  the 
welfare  and  comfort  of  individuals  and  families. 

Money  does  indeed  seem  almost  to  possess  the  attributes 
of  divinity.  The  whole  human  race  bows  down  to  it. 
There  is  no  one  nation  or  people,  the  world  around,  amidst 
whom  pieces  of  gold  or  silver  coin  do  not  exercise  a  mys- 
terious charm  over  men  and  command  their  respect  and  aid 
in  behalf  of  the  possessor. 
2 


18       god's  eule  for  christiax  giving. 

In  all  the  theology  of  nature  we  nowhere  see  more  plainly 
exhibited  the  glorious  attributes  of  an  infinite  and  benef- 
icent Creator  and  Governor  than  in  the  qualities  and  uses 
of  gold  and  silver.  The  same  God  made  them  to  subserve 
the  wants  of  human  society  who  made  the  blood  in  the  animal 
organization — that  mysterious  fluid  which  penetrates  and 
energizes  every  separate  atom  of  the  body,  and  both  conveys 
to  each  its  appropriate  nourishment  and  from  each  its  use- 
less secretions  or  its  waste  ;  the  same  also  who  in  the  struc- 
ture of  the  world  created  water,  the  circulation  of  which  is 
the  life  of  its  vast  frame.  We  see  similar  wisdom  in  the 
wondrous  adaptation  of  gold  and  of  silver — metals  which  so 
much  resemble  each  other  in  their  most  important  requisites, 
but  each  of  which  has  yet  its  own  features  of  excellence — to 
the  grand  design  of  being  universal  mediums  of  exchange, 
and  representatives  of  values.  We  find  in  these  metals 
largeness  of  value  in  a  very  small  bulk;  and  the  united 
qualities  of  malleability,  ductility  and  divisibility,  in  greater 
perfection  than  in  any  other  forms  of  matter.  They  easily 
receive  and  permanently  retain  the  stamp  which  certifies  to 
their  genuineness,  authority  and  proportionate  value  when 
made  into  coin. 

There  are  no  other  materials  in  nature  capable  of  accom- 
plishing the  same  incalculably  important  ends.  Cattle  and 
sheep,  precious  stones,  shells,  iron,  the  skins  of  various 
animals,  and  other  articles,  have  been  set  up  in  different 
ages  and  nations  as  standards  of  value  and  common  mediums 
of  exchange  ;  but  nothing  in  the  various  kingdoms  of  nature 
is  gifted  with  all  the  qualities  necessary  for  these  imperial 
ends  except  gold  and  silver.     The  commerce  and  trade  of 


THE   PRECIOUS   METALS.  19 

all  countries  measure  the  values,  and  transact  the  interchange, 
of  most  of  their  countless  materials,  according  to  their  equiv- 
alents in  these  metals. 

Let  us  go  a  step  higher.  How  shall  we  attempt  to  esti- 
mate or  describe  the  next  to  omnipotent  power  which  gold 
and  silver  exercise  in  imparting  energy,  healthfulness,  reg- 
ularity and  beneficial  results  to  every  form  of  human  indus- 
try? Without  money,  as  the  means  of  estimating  and 
exchanging  the  results  of  human  labor,  the  forms  of  labor 
would  be  limited  and  the  sum  of  it  would  be  diminished  be- 
yond our  power  to  conceive ;  a  multitude  of  beneficial  man- 
ufactures would  be  extinguished ;  society  would  relapse  to 
comparative  barbarism.  The  possession  of  money  develops 
the  manifold  resources  of  nature ;  it  fills  a  country  with 
every  kind  of  material  good ;  it  assists  a  nation  onward  in 
the  path  of  intellectual  progress ;  and  it  bestows  the  means 
of  increasing  and  spreading  the  benefits  and  comforts  of 
religion. 

The  vital  power  of  gold  does  not  perish  from  age  to  age. 
Man,  and  most  of  his  works,  and  the  fruits  of  the  earth, 
soon  perish ;  but  the  piece  of  money,  taken  from  the  hand  of 
an  Egyptian  mummy,  or  from  the  tomb  of  a  king  of  ancient 
Babylon,  will  procure  for  one  rice  to-day  from  the  fellahs  on 
the  Nile,  or  myrrh  or  dates  from  the  naked  ryots  in  India ; 
or  it  will  print  the  translations  of  the  Scriptures  and  help  to 
build  churches  and  schools  in  China  or  Kurdistan. 

Money  stoops  to  sustain  and  comfort  the  lowliest  Coins 
of  smaller  values  than  can  be  conveniently  represented  by 
gold  and  silver  are  made  out  of  compounds  of  them  with 
inferior  metals,  such  as  copper,  zinc,  tin  and  nickel,  which 


20       god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

possess  something  of  the  color  and  properties  of  the  nobler 
metals.  Thus  the  poor  are  supplied  with  means  of  carrying 
on  their  employments  and  supplying  their  wants ;  and  the 
smaller  transactions  of  society  in  general  are  more  readily 
performed. 

Even  the  written  decrees  of  this  sovereign  are  obeyed,  and 
his  promises  honored,  in  the  most  distant  countries.  His 
power  is  an  hundred  fold  magnified  and  extended  by  the 
numerous  devices  of  paper  bills,  bonds  and  notes,  made 
payable  in  the  centres  of  commerce,  or  bearing  interest 
through  the  course  of  many  years  to  come.  B"y  such  de- 
vices does  money  vastly  enlarge  its  dominion  over  the  whole 
world. 

A  reflecting  mind  is  filled  with  awe,  almost  with  dread, 
when  it  considers  all  these  mighty  attributes  of  money.  It 
is  next  to  omnipresent  and  omnipotent ;  it  exalts  and  abases 
nations  and  men ;  it  seems  superior  to  our  short-lived  kind. 
We  comprehend  the  meaning  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  when 
he  ranked  it  as  a  god  ;  one  who  sets  up  opposition  to  the  true 
Grod,  reigns  supreme  over  most  of  our  race,  and  destroys 
them  soul  and  body  for  ever.  For  such  is  the  declaration : 
"  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon." 

We  see  also  what  Jesus  means  when  he  admonishes  his 
disciples  to  turn  what  is  a  tremendous  and  eternal  curse  to 
the  unrighteous  into  a  heavenly  and  everlasting  benefit  to 
themselves.  "Make  to  yourselves  friends  (by  means)  of 
the  mammon  of  unrighteousness,  that  when  ye  fail  they 
may  receive  you  unto  everlasting  habitations."  *  We  may, 
is  his  meaning,  compel  the  god  of  this  world  to  make  for  us 
•=-  Matt.  vi.  24.     Luke  xvi.  1-15. 


THE   PEECIOUS   METALS.  21 

friends  and  gather  for  us  blessings,  which  shall  mount  with 
us,  and  fill  our  heavenly  home  with  companionships  and  joys 
which  otherwise  we  should  never  have  known.  The  men, 
and  women  and  children,  whom  our  gifts  of  money  were  the 
means  of  bringing  to  the  habitations  above,  will  make  the 
associations  there  for  ever  more  blest  and  delightful. 


CHAPTER    III. 

REWARDS  AND  PENALTIES  CONNECTED   WITH 
MONEY. 

IN  the  earliest  appointments  for  his  worship  by  man  the 
Lord  set  a  great  and  pecuHar  sacredness  upon  blood.  It 
was  made  a  fundamental  principle  of  all  sacrifices  of  animals 
that  "  it  is  the  blood  that  maketh  an  atonement  for  the  soul." 
"Almost  all  things  are  by  the  law  purged  with  blood;  and 
without  shedding  of  blood  is  no  remission."  The  reason  is 
given :   "  For  the  life  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood."  * 

There  is  ai  corresponding  sacredness  set  upon  gold  and 
silver  money.  It  was  constituted  in  some  sense  "an  atone- 
ment," or  equivalent,  for  human  or  brute  life.  "The  first- 
born of  thy  sons  thou  shalt  redeem ;"  "  because  all  the  first- 
born are  mine."  A  fixed  sum  of  money  was  appointed  for 
the  redemption  of  a  first-born  son,  or  a  daughter  devoted  by 
a  special  vow,  or  the  firstling  of  an  unclean  animal,  or  some 
other  devoted  things;  the  firstling  of  a  clean  sacrificial 
beast  could  not  be  redeemed,  "it  shall  surely  be  put  to 
death."  The  people  when  numbered  were  commanded  to 
give  every  man  a  half  shekel,  the  rich  no  more,  the  poor  no 
less,  as  "  a  ransom  for  his  soul  unto  the  Lord,"  "  that  there 
be  no  plague  among  them."  This  money,  the  Lord  said  to 
them  by  Moses,  is  to  make  an  atonement  for  your  souls. ' '  f 

«-  Lev.  xvii.  11.    Heb.  ix.  22. 
fEx.  xxxiv.  20.     Num.  iii.  13.     Ex.  xxx.  15. 
22 


REWARDS   AND   PENALTIES.  23 

It  is  one  of  the  radical  principles  of  political  economy 
that  capital  and  labor  are  essentially  the  same.  Capital  in 
whatsoever  amount  represents  an  equivalent  sum  of  human 
toil  and  suifering,  which  somewhere,  and  in  some  way,  has 
been  expended  in  its  production.  And  thus,  it  may  be  said, 
money  is  blood  ;  money  is  life.  So,  as  we  have  seen  from 
the  law  of  the  Old  Testament,  God  reckons  it. 

We  are  now  led,  if  we  have  thoroughly  weighed  the  pur- 
pose of  God  in  the  creation  of  the  precious  metals  and  in 
the  constitution  of  money,  which  were  presented  in  the  last 
chapter,  another  step  forward,  and  have  fully  brought  to 
view  the  momentous  responsibility  to  which  God  holds  every 
man  for  the  use  of  the  money,  or  property  which  represents 
money,  in  his  possession. 

Not  alone  earthly  and  material  blessings  and  woes,  but 
salvation  and  damnation,  eternal  reward  and  eternal  punish- 
ment, are  suspended  upon  the  condition  of  the  right  use  or 
the  abuse  of  money.  It  is  a  question  of  life  or  death.  "Ye 
are  cursed  with  a  curse ;  for  ye  have  robbed  me,  even  this 
whole  nation."  "  Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into  the  storehouse, 
that  there  may  be  meat  in  mine  house,  and  prove  me  now 
herewith,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  if  I  will  not  open  you  the 
windows  of  heaven,  and  pour  you  out  a  blessing,  that  there 
shall  not  be  room  enough  to  receive  it."  Covetousness 
withholds  oblations  from  God's  altars  and  treasury ;  honor 
and  joy  from  God's  service;  food  and  raiment  from  God's 
ministers  and  servants,  and  from  the  poor,  the  widows,  the 
fatherless  and  the  stranger ;  instruction  from  the  souls  of 
men  ;  and  light  and  life  from  a  world  that  lieth  in  darkness 
and  spiritual  death.     It  makes  God's  mcrc}^  Christ's  atone- 


24       god's  kule  for  christian  giving. 

ment,  and  tlie  Spirit's  agency,  to  be  of  no  effect.  Hence 
God  curses  it  with  a  great  and  special  curse.  "  No  covetous 
man,  who  is  an  idolater,  hath  any  inheritance  in  the  king- 
dom of  Christ  and  of  God."  * 

We  are  responsible  for  our  brother's  life:  "  Surely  your 
blood  of  your  lives  M'ill  I  require ;  at  the  hand  of  every 
man's  brother  will  I  require  the  life  of  man."  We  may 
murder  that  brother  by  violence,  as  did  Cain ;  but  we  may 
also  murder  him  by  refusing  to  warn,  or  to  send  others  to 
warn  him,  of  danger.  God  says,  "When  I  say  unto  the 
wicked :  Thou  shalt  surely  die ;  and  thou  givest  him  not 
warning,  nor  speakest  to  warn  the  wicked  from  his  wicked 
way,  to  save  his  life ;  the  same  wicked  man  shall  die  in  his 
iniquity,  but  his  blood  will  I  require  at  thine  hand."  f  The 
blood  of  lost  men  is  certainly  upon  the  money  of  him  who 
does  not  use  it  as  a  steward  of  God  ;  employing  it,  next 
to  the  necessary  maintenance  of  himself  and  family,  and  the 
discipline  and  equipments  which  are  required  for  increase 
of  usefulness,  in  ways  which  tend  to  the  salvation  of  the 
souls  of  men. 

There  are  curious  white  vases  of  porcelain  to  be  seen  in 
Oriental  collections  of  antiquities,  the  numerous  little  cracks 
in  the  enamel  of  which  appear  to  be  of  a  purplish  hue.  The 
explanation  which  is  given  for  this  peculiarity  is,  that  the 
blood  of  human  sacrifices  was  cast  with  them  into  the  kiln 
in  which  this  costly  ware  was  burned.  Just  so  the  sun 
lights  the  lines  and  crevices  of  fine  mansions,  and  costly 
pictures  and  statuary,  and  rich  tableware  and  furniture,  and 
even  those  of  unneeded  luxuries  of  the  homes  of  people  in 

*  Mai.  iii.  9,  10.     Eph.  v.  5.  f  ^cn.  ix.  5.     Ezek.  iii.  18. 


REWARDS  AND   PENALTIES.  ZO 

moderate  circumstances,  "witli  a  purple  tinge,  the  tinge  of 
blood — the  blood  of  misappropriated  life,  of  labor  and  skill 
and  strength  devoted  to  ends  of  earth  and  sense ;  j-ea,  and 
the  blood  of  souls  unwarned  and  perishing  in  Christian  and 
in  heathen  lands,  souls  to  whom  no  one  has  gone  with  the 
infinitely  precious  message:  The  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall 
die ;  but  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin. 
The  penalty  of  misused  pecuniary  power  is  wonderfully 
like  the  penalty  of  misused  powers  of  bodily  life.-  The  dis- 
ordered digestion,  the  capricious  appetite,  the  enervation 
and  indolence,  the  tendency  to  congestion  in  particular  or- 
gans, the  perhaps  sudden  and  unexpected  arrest  in  death, — 
these  are  the  symptoms  of  the  enervated  and  invalid  body. 
They  have  their  precise  counterparts  in  the  religious  experi- 
ence of  the  individual  who  gives  neither  means  nor  toil  for 
the  salvation  of  others,  or  the  building  of  Christ's  Church 
on  earth.  They  illustrate  the  condition  of  congregations 
and  churches  which  wilt,  and  fade,  and  die,  under  an  in- 
ward curse  of  God ;  just  because  they  sit  in  spiritual  glut- 
tony and  drunkenness,  luxuriating  in  pleasant  sermons,  and 
prayer-meetings,  and  revivals  among  their  own  children  and 
families,  but  forgetful  of  the  vast  harvest  outside,  white  and 
perishing,  which  God  has  ripened  for  the  sickle,  in  this  and 
other  lands.  The  "wages"  of  such  sin  of  omission  "is 
death." 


CHAPTER    IV. 
THE   EDUCATION  OF  MAN  AS  A  SON  OF   GOD, 

THE  tender,  sleepless,  self-denying,  patient  care  of  a 
young  boy  by  an  Oriental  nurse  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  touching  sights  of  the  Old  World.  He  never 
appears  to  weary,  all  the  day  and  all  the  night.  He  carries 
his  little  charge  lovingly  upon  his  shoulder  or  back,  or  in 
his  arms.  He  shelters  him  from  the  beams  of  the  sun,  or 
from  the  showers  of  rain,  with  his  varnished  umbrella,  or 
great  fan.  He  vigilantly  protects  him  from  every  possible 
danger.  He  liberally  supplies  him  with  good  food,  and 
pleasant  fruits,  and  refreshing  drinks.  He  recites  to  him 
stories ;  and  he  teaches  and  encourages  him  to  be  kind  and 
polite,  and  to  behave  himself  in  a  proper  manner. 

Moses  takes  up  this  beautiful  and  impressive  illustration, 
when  he  addresses  his  dying  instructions  to  the  tribes  of 
Israel.  He  says :  "The  beloved  of  the  Lord  shall  dwell  in 
safety  by  Him ;  and  the  Lord  shall  cover  him  all  the  day 
long ;  and  he  shall  dwell  between  His  shoulders."  * 

There  is  exhibited  an  amazing  assiduity  of  tenderness, 

wisdom  and  power  in  God's  care   of  mankind,  from  the 

beginning  of  the  world.     God  seems  to  have  incessantly 

aimed  at  the  progressive  education  of  man  as  an  immortal 

*  Deut.  xxxiii.  12. 

26 


EDUCATION  OF   MAN   AS   A  SON   OF  GOD.         27 

being,  and  as  one  destined  to  hold  a  place  of  peculiar  honor 
amidst  the  vast  range  and  numerous  orders  of  his  spiritual 
creatures. 

Paul  declares  this  divine  purpose  in  his  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians :  "  God,  for  his  great  love  wherewith  he  loved 
us,  hath  made  us  sit  together  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ, 
that  in  the  ages  to  come  he  might  show  the  exceeding 
riches  of  his  grace  in  his  kindness  to  us  through  Christ 
Jesus. "  * 

The  Son  of  God  gathers  us  to  his  heart  as  "brethren," 
when  he  teaches  us  how  to  pray.  We  are  to  say  :  "  Our 
Father  which  art  in  heaven,  thy  kingdom  come ;  thy  will 
be  done  in  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."  The  purpose  is  to 
teach  us  that  we  are  to  address  and  love  and  obey  God  as 
one  who  is  truly  "  our  father ;"  that  we  are  to  live  on  earth 
as  those  whose  permanent  home  is  "in  heaven  ;"  and  that 
we  are  to  employ  ourselves  and  all  this  life's  resources  in 
directing  erring  and  sinning  fellow-men  to  heaven,  and  in 
helping  to  make  this  earth  as  like  as  possible  to  heaven. 

Design  in  the  Creation  of  the  World. 
We  see  God's  paternal  and  loving  purpose  manifested 
everywhere  in  the  creation  of  the  material  world.  His 
great  love  wherewith  he  loved  us  Ted  him  to  construct  a 
place  suitable  for  the  abode  of  a  race  which  he  purposed 
to  make  of  one  family  with  his  dear  Son.  "  He  appointed 
the  foundations  of  the  earth,"!  "  He  set  a  compass  upon  the 
face  of  the  deep."  "He  established  the  clouds  above." 
He  "rejoiced  in  the  habitable  part  of  his  earth;"  and  his 
*  Eph.  ii.  4-7.  t  Prov.  viii.  27-32. 


28       god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

"delights  were  with  the  children  of  man."  The  more 
wide  and  deep  our  acquaintance  with  the  whole  range  of 
nature,  the  more  amazing  appears  to  us  the  wealth  of  those 
designs  which  jBlled  the  earth  with  materials  formed  and 
deposited  to  suit  the  wants  of  man.  Beneath  its  surface 
are  stored  metals,  fuel,  minerals,  of  countless  kinds  and 
uses ;  upon  it  are  provided  grains,  woods,  nutritious  vege- 
tables, herds  of  animals  capable  of  domestication  ready 
to  serve  him,  and  multitudes  of  others  inhabiting  the  air 
and  earth  and  waters,  suited  to  furnish  him  with  all  that  his 
appetites  or  tastes  can  possibly  require.  It  is  warmed  and 
tempered  with  the  glorious  sun  and  air;  ventilated  and 
made  healthful  and  pleasant  by  currents  of  winds,  and 
rivers  and  seas ;  watered  with  rains,  dews,  fountains  and 
streams.  It  is  adorned  with  myriads  of  varieties  of  flowers, 
robed  in  splendor  beyond  that  of  Solomon  ;  and  it  is  made 
luxurious  with  delicious  fruits.  There  is  no  sickness  or 
pain  to  which  man  is  liable  for  which  some  remedy  is  not 
devised.  On  every  hand  there  appear  royal  preparations 
for  a  royal  race. 

Purposes  of  the  Levitical  Dispensation. 
The  peculiar,  intimate  and  loving  tutelage  of  that  family 
and  nation,  which  when  others  forsook  God  continued  to 
serve  him,  during  the  ancient  patriarchal  and  Levitical  dis- 
pensations, affords  to  us  many  illustrations  of  his  ultimate 
gracious  purpose  in  behalf  of  our  race.  That  aiFectionate 
care  was  ever  twofold  :  it  supplied  abundantly  all  the  wants 
of  his  people  and  guarded  them  from  evil ;  and  it  assid- 
uously instructed  them  in  the  way  to  be  holy  and  useful. 


EDUCATION   OF   MAN   AS   A   SON   OF   GOD.         29 

How  impressive  and  valuable  is  that  twofold  history — on 
the  one  hand,  Grod  leading  the  nation  perpetually,  just  as  he 
did  from  Egypt  to  Canaan,  preserving  it  from  all  its  terrible 
enemies  and  supplying  its  wants  by  a  continued  miracle  ;  on 
the  other  hand,  teaching  it  by  numerous  precepts,  by  im- 
pressive appointments  of  worship  and  duty,  and  by  many 
awful  judgments,  to  use  rightly,  and  not  to  abuse,  his  tem- 
poral and  spiritual  blessings. 

Most  impressive  among  such  lessons  were  many  of  those 
which  related  to  the  use  and  abuse  of  gold  and  silver. 
Thus,  when  Grod  set  them  free  from  Egypt,  "He  brought 
them  forth  with  silver  and  gold ;"  but  when  they  set  it  up 
to  worship  it,  he  moved  Moses  to  burn  it  in  the  fire,  and 
grind  it  to  powder,  and  strew  it  upon  the  water,  and  make 
the  children  of  Israel  in  bitterness  and  shame  to  drink  of 
it ;  he  commanded  the  Levites  to  go  in  and  out  from  gate 
to  gate  throughout  the  camp,  and  slay  their  guilty  brethren 
and  companions  and  neighbors ;  thus  three  thousand  were 
put  to  death ;  and  lastly,  he  sent  a  plague  upon  the  people. 
When  they  entered  the  land  of  promise  and  conquered  the 
cities  of  the  heathen,  they  were  specially  required  to  burn 
their  images,  and  to  count  their  gold  and  silver  a  devoted 
thing  which  they  must  not  take  for  themselves,  but  give  to 
the  Lord.  When  Achan  broke  this  command,  and  took  a 
garment  and  two  hundred  shekels  of  silver  and  a  wedge  of 
gold,  Joshua  and  the  congregation  took  these  things,  and 
him  and  his  sons  and  daughters,  and  his  cattle  and  tent,  and 
all  that  he  had;  and  they  stoned  them  with  stones  and 
burned  them  with  fire.* 

*-  Ps.  cv.  37.     Ex.  xxxii.  19-29.     Judg.  vii. 


so       god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

The  stated  appointments  of  the  law,  as  has  already  been 
shown,  attached  to  gold  and  silver  a  special  sacredness  to 
God.  The  history  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah  and  Israel, 
until  their  downfall,  was  ever  filled  with  lessons  which  were 
designed  to  teach  them  their  distinguished  position  as  the 
chosen  people  of  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  to  dis- 
cipline them,  as  the  channel  of  blessings  for  the  good  of  the 
whole  race,  to  holiness  and  zeal  in  the  use  and  enjoyment 
of  his  munificent  temporal  gifts  to  them. 

GrOD's  Wondrous  Purpose  or  Grace  in  Christ. 

But  the  greatest  of  all  the  manifestations  of  God's  "great 
love  wherewith  he  loved  us,"  and  means  for  the  education 
of  man  for  the  grand  ends  of  his  creation,  is  given  in  the 
mission  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  When  our  race  was 
hopelessly  fallen  and  lost,  when  all  our  own  efforts  for  re- 
covery were  evidently  vain,  "God  so  loved  the  world,  that 
he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  Our 
very  ruin  was  made  an  occasion  for  the  performance  of  the 
most  astonishing  of  all  God's  acts  of  condescension  and 
favor  to  man.  At  the  beginning,  the  Creator  and  Lord  of 
the  universe  had  made  man  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  he 
had  given  him  dominion  over  his  works  on  earth,  and  put 
all  things  under  his  feet.  But  now  we  see  Jesus,  the  per- 
son of  the  Godhead  by  whom  the  worlds  were  made,  and 
who  upholds  them  by  the  word  of  his  power,  come  to  suffer 
death  for  us,  and  to  make  reconciliation  for  our  sins,  to  call 
and  to  exalt  us  to  be  in  an  extraordinary  sense  "brethren  ;" 
and  we  see  him  rise  and  sit  down  on  the  right  hand  of  the 


EDUCATION    OP   MAN   AS   A   SON    OF   GOD.         31 

majesty  on  higli,  to  exercise  for  us  the  obligations  of  that  en- 
dearing relationship,  and  to  crown  us  with  eternal  glory  and 
honor.* 

All  is  done  that  the  Almighty  God  himself,  with  his  infi- 
nite resources,  can  do  to  prove  to  us  the  validity  of  our  son- 
ship,  and  the  truth  of  his  solemn  declaration  that  literally 
"all  things  are  yours."  We  "reign  as  kings."  f  He 
has  made  us  joint  occupants  of  the  throne  of  Jesus.  He 
has  made  us  "  sit  together  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ"  and 
with  Christ.  His  purpose  is  to  sho,w  to  angels  and  the  uni- 
verse "the  exceeding  riches  of  his  grace,  in  his  kindness  to 
us  through  Christ  Jesus." 

God  is  solicitous  that  we  should  realize  and  prove  this 
wondrous  grace  and  munificence.  He  represents  its  exer- 
cise in  our  behalf  to  be  for  his  own  divine  glory.  When 
Jesus  Christ  was  on  earth  he  labored  to  inspire  his  disciples 
with  the  sense  of  it,  and  to  instruct  them  in  the  duties  which 
it  imposed  upon  them.  He  said :  ' 'Ask  and  ye  shall  receive. ' ' 
"If  ye  shall  ask  anything  in  my  name  I  will  doit."  "What- 
soever ye  shall  ask  in  my  name  that  will  I  do,  that  the 
Father  may  be  glorified  in  the  Son. "  "  Take  no  thought 
saying,  What  shall  we  eat?  or,  what  shall  we  drink?  or, 
wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed?  For  after  all  these 
things  do  the  Gentiles  seek.  For  your  heavenly  Father 
knoweth  ye  have  need  of  all  these  things.  But  seek  ye 
first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  all  these  things  shall  be 
added  unto  you."  "Give,  and  it  shall  be  given  unto 
you."     " Freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give."  t 

*  John  iii.  16.      Heb.  i.,  ii.  f  1  Cor.  ii.  21  ;  iv.  8. 

X  Matt,  vi.,  X.     John  xiv.  13,  14. 


32      god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

As  a  conspicuous  part  of  the  education  of  those  who  were 
at  once  brethren  and  disciples,  Jesus  addressed  himself  to 
exhibit  in  its  true  light  the  sin  which  is  in  some  respects  the 
sum  of  all  sins — covetousness.  For  as  monej^  is  the  great 
representative  and  instrumentality  of  power  in  human 
society,  the  means  of  gratifying  almost  every  earthly  desire 
of  man,  the  adored  god  of  the  unregenerated  heart,  so  he 
makes  it  one  of  the  primary  ends  of  his  visit  to  earth  to  de- 
stroy its  magical  spell,  to  lift  the  souls  of  believers  to  a 
superiority  to  it,  and  to  teach  them  in  triumphing  over  the 
love  of  it  to  subordinate  it  to  the  beneficent  and  healthful 
purposes  for  which  Grod  created  it. 

Warnings  of  the  Forerunner. 
When  the  forerunner  of  Jesus  was  sent  to  announce  that 
the  commencement  of  "the  kingdom  of  heaven"  was  at 
hand,  the  Jews,  in  great  numbers,  fi'om  every  part  of  the 
land,  went  out  to  the  wilderness  to  see  him.  The  great 
theme  of  his  preaching  was,  "Repent,"  and  "bring  forth 
fruits  worthy  of  repentance."  The  several  classes  of  men 
asked,  ' '  What  shall  we  do  then  ?' '  His  explanation  of  what 
"  the  fruits"  of  repentance  meant  was,  in  each  case,  an  ex- 
hortation to  practical  charity,  and  warning  against  some  be- 
setting form  of  covetousness.  The  publicans  were  cautioned 
against  illegal  exactions  of  money.  The  soldiers  were  warned 
against  the  frauds  and  violence  by  which  they  were  accus- 
tomed to  wring  out  money  from  the  helpless  people.  And 
the  people  generally  were  commanded,  if  they  owned  but 
two  coats,  yet  to  give  up  one  to  the  wi'etch  poorer  than 
themselves,  and,  however  small  their  stock  of  food,  yet  to 


EDUCATION   OF   MAN   AS   A  SON   OF   GOD.        33 

divide  it  with  tlie  hungry.  Covetousness  was  held  up  as 
the  deadly  rot  which  was  at  the  core  of  the  Jewish  religion, 
and  prevented  it  bringing  forth  "fruits ;"  and  which  would 
make  a  holy  God  lay  an  axe  unto  the  root  of  it,  and  hew 
down  the  unrepenting  nation,  and  cast  it  into  the  fire.* 

Personal  Teaching  and  Monitions  of  the  Son  of 
God. 
The  Son  of  God  himself,  the  glorious  object  of  so  many 
centuries  of  prophecy,  at  length  comes !  What  are  his  first 
acts  towards  the  setting  up  of  "the  kingdom  of  heaven," 
and  the  destruction  of  the  kingdom  of  Satan  ?  He  announces 
his  heavenly  anointing,  as  the  Messiah,  to  be  especially  in 
order  that  he  may  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor.  The  ser- 
mon on  the  mount  is  opened  with  a  blessing  to  the  poor, 
and  to  the  poor  in  spirit ;  its  first  woe  is  to  the  satisfied  rich. 
He  declares  the  two  great  antagonistic  powers,  of  good  and 
of  evil,  to  be  God  and  mammon.  He  declares  the  first  duty 
of  man  to  be  to  seek  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteous- 
ness, and  that  all  needed  earthly  things  shall  be  added  there- 
to. He  declares  anxiety  for  earthly  goods  to  be  in  its  nature 
heathenism :  ' '  For  after  all  these  things  do  the  gentiles  seek. ' ' 
He  enters  upon  his  first  observance  of  the  passover,  after  he 
begins  his  ministry,  by  scourging  the  money-changers  out  of 
the  temple.  He  teaches  his  disciples  to  pray ;  and  the  first 
three  requests  ofiered  are  for  the  prevalence  of  the  spiritual 
kingdom  of  God  upon  the  earth,  and  but  one  out  of  the  seven 
petitions  has  reference  to  bodily  wants ;  and  those  are  then 
considered  only  with  reference  to  the  passing  day,  and  as  to 

*  Luke  iii. 
3 


34 

the  simplest  necessaries  of  life.  He  sends  the  apostles,  and 
the  seventy  disciples,  to  preach  the  gospel,  heal  the  sick, 
cleanse  the  lepers,  raise  the  dead ;  but  his  most  emphatic 
charge  is,  not  to  caiTy  gold,  or  silver,  or  even  brass  money, 
nor  any  superfluous  raiment.  A  rich  j^oung  man  seeks  to 
learn  of  him  the  way  to  obtain  eternal  life :  he  tells  him, 
first  "sell  whatsoever  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor." 
He  feeds  thousands  in  the  wilderness,  and  satisfies  them 
from  a  handful  of  barley  biscuit,  to  show  his  power  to  pro- 
vide all  necessary  good.  His  most  angry  warnings  are 
uttered  to  the  men  who  built  great  storehouses  and  barns, 
and  cared  not  for  their  souls.  His  most  striking  parables, 
such  as  those  from  the  pearl-merchant,  the  treasure-hunter, 
and  the  dishonest  steward — his  most  touching  lessons  from 
nature,  the  lilies,  the  birds,  the  foxes— his  most  surprising 
miracles,  the  draughts  of  fishes,  the  finding  of  money  in  the 
fish's  mouth,  and  the  instantaneous  relief  of  the  poor,  the 
blind,  the  leper,  for  the  mere  asking, — all  were  one  incessant 
testimony  against  covetousness  as  to  worldly  possessions,  and 
in  favor  of  submission,  obedience  and  trust  in  God.  ' '  He 
that  forsaketh  not  all  that  he  hath  cannot  be  my  disciple." 
His  most  eminent  model  of  Christian  beneficence  is  a  poor 
widow,  who  casts  into  the  Lord's  treasury  her  last  and  only 
farthing,  "even  all  her  living."  His  life  was  at  once  hfe- 
long  beneficence  and  poverty.  He  reserved  on  this  world 
which  he  made,  but  which  knew  him  not,  nowhere  a  safe 
refuge,  like  the  foxes ;  no  quiet  nest  or  home,  like  the  birds. 
He  washed,  like  the  humblest  of  the  household  slaves,  the 
feet  of  his  own  followers.  And  when  he  describes,  with 
Divine  foreknowledge  of  all  its  particulars,  the  coming  great 


EDUCATION   OF   MAX   AS   A  SON   OF   GOD.        35 

Day  of  Judgment,  lie  says,  that  the  chief  ground  of  accu- 
sation and  damnation  of  worldHngs  and  false  professors  will 
be  that  they  withheld  time,  strength  and  property,  from 
those  acts  of  mercy  to  the  hungry,  the  thirsty,  the  stranger, 
the  sick,  the  prisoner,  of  which  he  was  the  great  example, 
and  the  performance  of  which  is  the  principal  evidence  and 
seal  of  the  divinity  of  his  religion ;  while  the  acquittal  and 
salvation  of  the  righteous  will  be  chiefly  on  the  ground  of 
such  evidence  as  the  performance  of  those  acts  afibrds  of 
their  sincere  belief  in  and  obedience  to  him.* 

To  any  one  who,  with  an  open  and  sincere  mind,  will  con- 
sider the  hfe  and  teachings  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  they 
will  appear  a  grand  heavenly  lesson  of  beneficent  charity ; 
and  a  continued  and  burning  protest  against  the  love  of 
earthly  possessions,  springing  from  the  love  of  self,  as  the 
great  enemy  of  love  to  God,  and  as  the  great  obstacle  to  the 
salvation  of  the  race  of  man  through  his  own  death.  What 
an  example,  when  the  highest  of  all  became  the  lowest  of 
all,  and  he  who  alone  was  rich  for  our  sakes  became  poor ; 
when,  indeed,  he  gave  himself,  and  the  King  of  kings  took 
upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant  for  us,  and  suffered  for  us 
the  shameful  and  agonizing  death  of  the  cross !  f 

Influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  Conduct 
OP  Believers. 

We  may  complete  this  sketch  of  the  divine  education  of 
man  in  sonship  toward  his  Divine  "  father,"  and  in  the  use 
of  his  gifts  as  becomes  a  spiritual  and  immortal  being,  if  we 

*  Matt,  v.-vii.  Mark  x.  21.  Luke  xiv.  33 ;  xxi.  1-4 ;  ix.  68. 
John  xiii.     Matt.  xxv.        f  2  Cor.  viii.  9.     PhiL  ii.  5-8. 


consider  the  effects  of  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon 
the  conduct  of  beUevers. 

When  the  Spirit  of  God  opens  the  eyes,  turns  darkness 
into  hght,  breaks  the  chains  of  Satan  and  brings  men  to 
God ;  when  he  convinces  and  assures  them  of  the  riches  and 
glory  of  their  inheritance,  and  of  their  power  to  command 
*'all  things"  through  the  intercession  of  Christ;  and 
when  he  fills  them  with  godly  indignation,  fear,  vehement 
desire  and  revenge — with  the  intense  emotions  of  the  sol- 
dier who  hates  the  kingdom  and  power  of  Satan,  and  is 
ready  to  sacrifice  everything  he  possesses  in  order  to  destroy 
them  and  to  place  his  adored  sovereign,  the  rightfal  Lord 
of  all,  upon  his  earthly  throne — how  wholly,  how  extremely 
different  from  what  they  were  in  a  state  of  unbelief  are 
their  conceptions  and  feelings  in  regard  to  the  nature,  uses 
and  ends  of  money!  Those  men  were  not  drunk  with 
wine,  but  "filled" — yes,  thirsty  souls  to  whom  God  gave 
of  the  heavenly  fountain  of  the  water  of  life  so  that  they 
yRQVQ filled — "with  the  Spirit;"  who  at  Pentecost  hastened 
to  sell  their  possessions,  and  distribute  to  the  bodily  need, 
while  they  ministered  to  the  boundless  and  perishing  spirit- 
ual need  around  them.  Angels  indeed  such  men  and  women 
were !  And  with  such  heavenly  pictures  of  the  perfected 
results  of  God's  purpose  in  the  instruction  and  discipline  of 
man,  the  inspired  history  of  the  Church  is  finished  ;  and  it 
is  placed  in  our  hands,  to  study  and  to  imitate  its  examples 
until  the  end  of  time.* 

And  here  again  God  sets  the  precious  jewel  of  grace,  so 
pure,  luminous  and  adapted  to  the  crown  of  the  King,  in 
*  Eph,  i.    2  Cor.  vii.  11.    Acts  ii. 


EDUCATION   OF  MAN   AS   A   SON   OF   GOD.         37 

a  black  foil.  We  behold  the  swift  and  dreadful  curse  which 
falls  upon  Ananias  and  Sapphira  who  "  keep  back  part  of 
the  price"  of  what  they  had  vowed  to  God,  and  "he  not 
unto  men  but  unto  God. ' '  Thus  righteousness  and  truth 
are  seen  ever  to  meet  and  walk  with  mercj^  and  peace.  Thus 
the  first  manifestation  of  the  glorious  power  and  joj^ulness 
of  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  accompanied  by  the  most 
terrible  warning  of  the  penalty  of  abusing  and  perverting 
them  and  God's  instrumentaHties  of  good  to  the  world.* 

The  Great  Principle  as  Explained  in  the  Epistles. 

The  epistles  of  the  New  Testament  bring  clearly  to  view 
the  great  principle  upon  which  God  is  acting  in  the  educa- 
tion of  man.  A  household  among  the  great  family  of  his 
intelligent  creatures  has  fallen  into  rebellion  and  utter  ruin ; 
the  father  would  restore  and  reinstate  it  in  the  love  and  honor 
of  "the  whole  family  in  heaven  and  earth."  The  greatest 
sacrifices,  the  most  patient  and  wise  means,  must  be  employed 
to  accomplish  this  end.  It  would  be  of  no  use  to  restore  its 
external  privileges  without  such  an  education  as  will  elevate 
its  nature,  ennoble  its  affections,  and  inspire  it  with  the  real- 
ization of  its  position,  its  dignities,  its  responsibilities,  its  du- 
ties, and  its  destinies.  Each  member  must  be,  in  fine,  lifted 
from  the  place  of  an  animal  to  one  higher  than  an  angel's. 
He  must  be  fitted  to  be  "a  child  of  God.^'f 

Take  in  now  the  full  breadth  of  the  plan.  It  is  not  to  re- 
store one  man,  not  one  nation.  It  is  to  restore  mankind. 
It  is  to  bring  back  the  race,  and  to  teach  it  to  have  royal 
dominion  over  the  creatures,  and  the  portion  of  creation 

*  Acts  V.  1-11.     Ps.  Ixxxv.  10.        f  Luke  vi.  35.     Rom.  viii.  17. 


38       god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

which  Grod  has  assigned  to  it.  It  is  to  make  it  lord  over  all 
the  realm  of  matter ;  and  to  teach  it  to  use  in  hoHness,  wis- 
dom and  love,  the  divine  faculties  and  the  material  gifts 
committed  to  it. 

Nor  doth  it  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,  when  this  mys- 
tery of  godliness,  this  earthly  education  of  the  ' '  brethren ' ' 
of  the  Son  of  God,  has  been  perfected.  'Eye  hath  not  seen, 
nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man, 
the  things  which  Grod  hath  prepared  for  this  princely  race  ! 
And  it  is  yet  among  the  deep  things  of  God,  how  he  will 
surj^rise  by  them  the  lofty  principalities  and  powers  in 
lieavenly  places,  in  that  hour  when  a  new  glory  shall  be 
added  to  his  name  by  that  which  shall  be  revealed  in  us ;  and 
when  "  the  creation  itself  shall  be  delivered  from  the  bondage 
of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of 
God!"- 

Human  language  can  say  no  more  than  this.  Human 
thought  cannot  rise  higher  than  this.  Here  we  must  stop, 
and  each  of  us  wait,  it  may  be  groan,  earnestly  desiring  to 
be  clothed  upon  with  better  faculties,  when  mortality  shall 
be  swallowed  up  of  life.     "  Then  shall  we  know !"  f 

*-  2  Cor.  ii.  7-12.     Eph.  iii.  8-10.     Rom.  viii.  18-22.  f  1  Cor. 

xiii.  12. 


CHAPTER    V. 

DEVELOPMENT   OF  PECUNIARY  BENEFICENCE 
IN  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

TF  we  would  thorouglily  comprehend  and  feel  the  greatness 
-*-  of  the  subject  of  Christian  giving,  it  is  necessary  that  we 
should  take  at  least  a  brief  glance  at  the  history  of  the 
Church  since  Christ,  and  the  developments  of  God's  provi- 
dence as  there  exhibited. 

The  history  of  the  Christian  Church  has  been  marked  by 
five  distinct  stages  in  the  growth  of  the  principle  of  benefi- 
cence. Each  one  of  these  stages,  like  those  in  the  develop- 
ment of  a  fruit-bearing  tree  from  its  first  germ  in  the  earth, 
has  accomplished  some  purpose  of  God's  providential  wis- 
dom. 

These  progressive  stages  may  be  dated  from  the  eras  of 
its  implantation  by  Christ  and  the  apostles;  the  emperor 
Constantine ;  Hildebrand,  pope  Gregory  VII. ;  the  great 
Reformation  ;  and  the  final  expansion  of  Christianity,  upon 
which  we  are  now  entering.  Each  one  of  these  stages 
is  necessary  to  the  production  of  the  great  results  which 
God  has  in  view. 

In  the  first  stage  we  see  its  miraculous,  swift  and  vigorous 
dissemination.  In  the  second,  the  effort  of  the  kingdoms 
of  the  world,  convinced  of  its  divine  potency,  to  seduce  it 
into  an  alliance  with  themselves,  and  employ  it  to  subserve  • 

39 


40       god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

their  aims.  In  the  third,  the  converse  ambitious  effort  of 
the  Church  to  humble  and  rule  the  world,  bj^  the  means  of 
its  acquired  power  and  wealth.  In  the  fourth  stage,  the 
view  presents  us  with  a  mutual  revulsion,  the  Church  cling- 
ing by  faith,  wrecked,  naked,  and  wounded,  to  the  rock 
Christ  Jesus,  fearing  and  scarce  able  to  attempt  the  building 
of  the  temple  which  God  has  decreed  shall  surmount  that 
rock ;  while  the  world  defiantly  mocks  her,  and  treats  her 
celestial  mission,  and  demands  and  expectations,  with  scorn. 
The  final  stage  in  the  Church's  history  exalts  her  to  the 
position  in  which  God's  gracious  purposes  in  her  are  ful- 
filled ;  she  sits  as  a  queen,  rich  in  the  affections  and  obedi- 
ence of  a  sanctified  world. 

First  Stage.— Christ  and  the  Apostles. 

The  first  stage  of  Christianity  was  one  of  wondrous  energy, 
and  of  extraordinary  interest  to  all  succeeding  ages  and  to 
all  races  and  generations  of  men.  Then  the  vitalizing  power 
of  the  ministry  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  succeeded  by  the  influences 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  operates  like  the  warm  sun  and  quicken- 
ing rains  of  the  spring  season  upon  the  implanted  seed.  It  is 
saturated  with  heavenly  influences.  It  sw^ells  and  is  leavened 
with  a  new  power.  The  Church  is  filled  with  a  faith  which 
moves  it  to  undertake  the  speedy  conquest  of  the  whole 
world  to  Jesus  Christ,  its  Redeemer  and  Lord. 

It  was  the  confident  expectation  of  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians that  the  entire  world  would  in  a  short  time  be  converted. 
Such  seemed  to  be  the  promise  of  the  Old  Testament. 
David,  whose  royal  son  the  Lord  Jesus  was  commonly  styled 
, by  the  Jews,  had  said,  "He  shall  have  dominion  from  sea  to 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   BENEFICEXCE.  41 

sea,  and  from  the  river  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth."  Isaiah, 
who  had  with  most  wonderftd  clearness  described  his 
ministry  and  suffering  for  sin,  had  in  triumphant  and 
rapturous  language  described  the  fruits  of  them.  His  ad- 
vent was  compared  to  the  rising  of  the  sun  upon  a  world 
wrapped  in  deep  thick  darkness,  so  gloriously  that  all  nations 
and  kings  should  come  and  gather  themselves  together  to 
enjoy  the  blessings  of  its  light.  When  all  the  objects  of 
Christ's  mission  to  earth  were  accomplished  and  he  was 
ready  to  return  to  heaven,  he  gave  his  disciples  their  final  in- 
struction and  commission:  "All  power  is  given  unto  me  in 
heaven  and  in  earth.  Go  ye  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations ; 
baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Grhost :  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you:  and  lo  I  am  with  you 
alway,  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  The  divine  dignity  and 
authority  of  Christ  were  attested  by  his  transfiguration. 
The  ability  to  fulfill  these  vast  promises,  and  give  super- 
human success  to  the  efforts  of  his  disciples  in  obedience  to 
his  commands,  was  corroborated  by  his  miracles.  The  out- 
pouring of  the  Holy  Spirit  with  such  overwhelming  power 
that  thousands  of  people  were  converted  under  a  single  ser- 
mon, was  intended  to  illustrate  that  infinite  ability,  and  the 
willingness  to  exercise  it.* 

The  zeal  thus  incited  led  the  primitive  Christians  to  exer- 
cise a  charity  and  liberality  which  has  been. the  astonishment 
and  admiration  of  the  world  until  this  day.  Even  their 
enemies  acknowledged  how  great  it  was,  and  how  power- 

*Ps.  Ixxii.  8.  Isa.  Ix.  Luke  ii.  32.  Matt,  xxviii.  18-20.  Mark 
xvi.  20.     Acts  ii.-v. 


42       god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

fully  it  affected  the  souls  of  all  men.  The  emperor  Julian 
the  Apostate  exhorted  the  pagans  to  estabHsh  houses  for  the 
relief  of  the  sick,  strangers,  and  the  poor ;  saying  to  them, 
"  It  is  a  shame  for  us  that  the  impious  Galileans  should  not 
only  keep  their  own  poor  but  even  many  of  ours,  whom  we 
leave  to  suffer."  They  gave,  in  weekly  contributions,  sums 
of  money  proportioned  to  their  abihty,  the  aggregate  of 
which  was  immense.  This  was  spent  in  the  performance  of 
acts  of  charity,  which  relieved  the  sick,  taught  the  youth,  fed 
the  hungry,  redeemed  captives  and  slaves  in  all  lands,  sup- 
ported the  ordinances  of  religion,  and  sent  the  gospel  over 
the  entire  world.  The  recompense  of  this  heavenly  zeal  and 
charity  was  the  conversion  of  great  multitudes  from  every 
nation  to  the  Christian  religion.  "It  embraced,"  says  the 
heathen  Pliny,  writing  to  the  emperor  Trajan,  "persons  of 
all  ranks  and  ages,  and  even  of  both  sexes ; ' '  and  it  was 
"not  confined  to  the  cities  only,  but  spread  its  infection 
among  the  country  villages."  Irenseus  declared  that  it  had 
"extended  throughout  the  whole  world,  even  to  the 
uttermost  bounds  of  the  earth."  Eusebius,  writing  the 
history  of  the  early  Church,  affirms  that  "  through  a  celestial 
influence  and  co-operation,  the  doctrine  of  the  Saviour,  like 
the  rays  of  the  sun,  quickly  irradiated  the  whole  world.  In 
accordance  with  divine  prophecy,  within  a  little  time  the 
sound  of  his  inspired  evangelists  and  apostles  had  gone 
throughout  all  the  earth,  and  their  words  to  the  ends  of 
the  world.  Throughout  every  city  and  village,  like  as  in  a 
well-filled  granary,  churches  soon  abounded,  and  were  filled 
with  members  from  every  race  of  people. ' '  * 

*  EusEB.  Pamph.;  Ec.  Hist.;  IL,  iii. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF    BENEFICENCE.  43 

The  abuse  of  this  all-abounding  faith  and  virtue,  or 
energy,  was  as  the  apostle  Peter  foresaw  and  admonished 
them,  that  they  did  not  add  "to  virtue,  knowledge  ;  and  to 
knowledge,  temperance,"  that  is,  discipline  and  firmness.* 
The  defects  of  the  primitive  charity  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
were  the  want  of  comprehensiveness,  of  system,  of  judg- 
ment and  of  large  intelligence.  Blazing  and  glorious  as  was 
this  fii-st  kindling  of  the  Christian  flame,  the  time  had  not 
come  for  the  construction  of  the  enginery  for  which  such 
zeal  would  again,  at  a  future  day,  be  needed,  in  order  to  the 
accomphshment  of  God's  grand  final  designs,  in  the  casting 
down  of  every  high  thing  and  every  stronghold  of  Satan's 
powerful  kingdom  on  earth. 

The  lessons  which  this  first  stage  of  Christian  beneficence 
suggests  are,  the  greatness  of  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
which  are  yet  in  store  for  the  fullness  of  times  in  this  dis- 
pensation ;  the  efficacy  of  prayer ;  and  the  power  and  energy 
of  individual  believers  when  clothed  with  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
and  it  presents  us  with  the  highest  illustrations  of  complete 
and  true  consecration  to  the  ends  of  Christ's  atonement,  em- 
bracing life,  offspring,  property,  all  that  a  man  hath,  losing 
life  here  that  he  may  gain  life  for  ever. 

Second  Stage. — Era  of  Constantine. 
The  second  great  era  of  the  Church,  that  of  Constantine 
the  Great,  brings  to  our  view  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
figures  in  the  world's  history;  that  of  a  Roman  emperor, 
apparently  converted  from  heathenism  to  Christ,  seeking  to 
govern  the  spirits  of  men  by  civil  law,  and  to  renovate 
society  and  convert  the  world  by  the  political  authority  and 

*  2  Pet.  i.  5. 


44 

resources  of  tlie  empire.  Constantine  divided  the  Church 
into  great  primacies  and  episcopates  of  provinces  and  of 
cities,  just  as  he  divided  for  poHtical  purposes  the  territory 
of  the  empire,  assigning  to  each  its  suitable  officer.  He  ex- 
empted bishops  from  subordination  to  civil  jurisdiction  and 
yet  gave  them  power  to  exercise  authority  as  judges  in  civil 
cases,  and  required  the  civil  officers  to  carry  out  their  decis- 
ions and  mandates.  He  destroyed,  or  altered,  the  idol 
temples;  commanded  Sunday  and  Friday  to  be  publicly 
observed  as  religious  days ;  and  carried  in  his  military 
campaigns  a  tent  designed  for  religious  worship.  He  con- 
vened, and  sometimes  presided  over,  councils  of  the  bishops 
and  clergy ;  and  prohibited  by  law  heretical  opinions,  and 
the  exercise  of  the  worship  of  God  by  heretics.  He  wrote 
to  the  Council  of  Tyre  urging  upon  its  members  "  that  sin- 
cerity and  fidelity  which,  according  to  our  Saviour,  ought  to 
pervade  all  our  actions.  Nothing  shall  be  omitted,"  he 
saj^s,  "  on  my  part  to  further  the  interests  of  our  religion."  * 
He  applied  the  ordinary  revenues  of  the  empire  to  the  de- 
signs of  the  Church ;  ordered  churches,  asylums  for  widows 
and  orphans,  and  hospitals  for  the  sick,  everywhere  to  be 
built  and  maintained ;  and  directed  copies  of  the  Scriptures 
to  be  transcribed  and  distributed.  He  liberally  supported 
the  clergy,  and  levied  taxes  and  tribute  that  were  to  be  put 
into  their  hands  for  religious  and  charitable  uses.  He  coined 
a  great  quantity  of  idols  of  silver  ai^d  gold  into  money ;  and 
purified  others  by  passing  them  through  the  fire,  and  pre- 
sented them  to  the  churches.  He  transferred  the  seat  of 
the  imperial  government  from  Rome  to  Constantinople,  in 

*  TuEODORET  :  Ec.  Hint.  I.  xxix. 


DEVELOPMEXT   OF   BENEFICENCE.  45 

order  thus  to  assume  a  new  and  more  favorable  position, 
that  he  might  command  greater  power  over  the  three  conti- 
nents, and  rear  a  new  Christian  metropohs  of  the  world. 
"And,"  says  an  ancient  church  historian,  "his  wishes  were 
not  thwarted ;  for  by  the  assistance  of  God  it  became  the 
most  populous  and  wealthy  of  cities.  I  know  of  no  cause  to 
account  for  this  extraordinary  aggrandizement,  unless  it  be 
the  piety  of  the  builder  and  of  the  inhabitants,  and  their 
compassion  and  liberality  toward  the  poor."*  He  made 
from  the  nails  of  the  cross  of  Christ,  which  his  mother 
Helena  sent  to  him  from  the  sepulchre  at  Jerasalem,  a  head- 
band and  bit  for  his  horse,  which  he  inscribed,  according  to 
the  prophecy  of  Zechariah,  with  the  words :  "Holiness  to 
THE  Lord." 

Was  this  second  gi'and  experience  of  the  Church,  its 
adoption  by  the  State,  and  support  by  the  State,  to  capacitate 
it  for  its  sublime  mission  on  earth  ?  No !  The  Church  was 
convulsed  internally  with  Arianism,  which  rejected  the  very 
divinity  of  Christ ;  and  was  torn  with  numerous  other  con- 
troversies. The  character  of  its  great  patron,  Constantino, 
was  doubtful  and  inconsistent.  Some  of  his  letters  to  coun- 
cils and  the  clergy  express  admirable  Christian  sentiments. 
But  his  faith  was  mixed  with  superstition  and  his  acts  with 
the  idolatry  of  favorite  gods.  He  slew  his  son  Crispus, 
perhaps  his  wife  Fausta,  and  several  others  of  his  own 
kindred.  He  resisted  Christian  baptism,  for  questionable  or 
superstitious  reasons,  till  near  death,  and  the  ceremony  was 
then  performed  by  an  Arian ;  and  it  is  still  uncertain  whether 
he  was  not  always  at  heart  a  pagan,  or  an  Arian.  His  son 
*  SozoMEN ;  Ec.  Hist.  XL,  iii. 


46       god's  kule  foe  christian  giving. 

Constantius  was  an  Avian  and  opposer  of  the  truth.  His 
nephew,  the  infamous  Julian  the  Apostate,  who  was  the  fol- 
lowing emperor,  endeavored  to  exterminate  Christianity, 
and  to  rebuild  Jerusalem  in  order  to  give  the  lie  to  the  last 
prophecies  of  Jesus  Christ  himself.  The  character  of  Constan- 
tino to  be  intelligently  apprehended  must  be  compared  with 
that  of  the  emperor  Charlemagne  of  France,  or  that  of  Peter 
the  Great  of  Russia ;  men  of  giant  energy,  passions  and 
will,  full  of  contradictions,  but  raised  up  at  great  junctures 
of  human  affairs,  for  the  accomplishment  of  extraordinary 
designs  of  divine  Providence.* 

The  effects  of  Constantino's  efforts  to  subordinate  the 
Church  to  the  advantage  of  the  State,  and  of  his  extravagant 
appropriations  from  the  civil  revenues  to  her  support,  were 
pernicious  to  religion.  The  clergy  were  inflamed  with  the 
love  of  property.  In  succeeding  centuries,  they  amassed  by 
solicitation  from  the  temporal  powers,  through  S3parate  taxa- 
tion, and  by  means  of  a  multitude  of  devices,  an  incalculably 
vast  amount  of  every  sort  of  landed  and  material  possessions. 
They  employed  fraud  and  forgery  when  necessary  to  their 
ends.  A  most  famous  forgery  was  that  known  as  the  Do- 
nation of  Constantine,  to  Pope  Sylvester  and  his  successors, 

*  Gibbon's  estimate  of  Constantine  is,  as  usual,  gross  and  one- 
sided. NiEBUHR  is  severe  upon  him.  He  says  {Lectures  on  Roman 
Hist.,  III.,  303)  that  "his  religion  was  a  rare  jumble,"  and  that  "to 
call  him  even  a  saint  is  a  profanation  of  the  word."  Stanley  is 
more  discriminating;  he  closes  a  just  and  eloquent  portraiture  of 
Constantino's  life  and  character  {History  of  tie  Eastern  Church, 
Lect.  VI.)  by  holding  it  up  as  a  compound  of  "Pagan  and  Chris- 
tian, orthodox  and  heretical,  liberal  and  fanatical,  not  to  be  imitated 
or  admired,  but  much  to  be  remembered,  and  deeply  to  be  studied." 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   BENEFICENCE.  47 

of  "the  sovereignty  of  Rome;  of  the  provinces,  cities  and 
towns  of  the  whole  of  Italy ;  and  of  the  Western  regions." 

Many  of  the  wisest  and  purest  members  of  the  Roman 
Church  in  every  age  have  deplored  the  secularization  of 
Christianity  by  Constantino.  What  he  designed  to  be  a 
mutual  advantage  to  the  Empire  and  the  Church  became 
the  degradation  and  destruction  of  spiritual  religion.* 

Those  truly  spiritual  men  who  from  century  to  century 
lifted  up  their  voices  in  cries  for  reform,  down  to  Huss  and 
Wickhffe,  attributed  to  Constantino  the  transformation  of 
the  Church  from  its  primitive  simplicity  and  purity.  The 
"  Old  Catholics,"  the  latest  schism  from  the  Papacy,  say  con- 
cerning its  temporalities,  that  in  addition  to  the  evils  of  the 
"well-meant,  but  ill-advised  munificence  of  Constantino," 
the  forgery  of  his  so-called  Donation,  was  a  "large  and 
inexhaustible  treasury  from  which  political  and  municipal 
privileges  could  be  drawn  just  as  they  were  wanted."! 

The  Waldensian  and  other  anti-papal  churches,  or  indi- 

*  Thus,  according  to  John  Milton,  Reformation  in  England,  b.  L, 
the  poet  Dante  exclaims  : 

"Ah,  Constantine  I     To  how  much  ill  was  cause, 
Not  thy  conversion,  but  those  rich  domains 
Which  the  first  wealthy  pope  received  of  thee." 

Inferno;  xix.  115-117. 
And  Ariosto  compares  the  grandeur  of  the  Church  to 
"  a  flowery  mountain  green, 
Which  once  smelt  sweet,  now  stinks  as  odiously. 
This  was  the  gift,  if  you  the  truth  will  have, 
That  Constantine  to  good  Sylvester  gave." 

Orlando  Furioao  ;  xxxiv.  80. 
"{"  DOLLINGER ;  Fables  respecting  the  Pope  in  the  Middle  Ages, 


viduals,  were  driven  to  the  opposite  extreme  of  sentiment 
with  regard  to  ecclesiastical  possessions ;  they  argued  that 
all  investments  and  funded  property  are  essentially  corrupt- 
ing, that  religion  must  be  maintained  entirely  by  free  will 
offerings,  and  that  it  is  the  scriptural  duty  of  the  clergy  to 
continue  poor.  The  English  Puritans  held  up  the  provision 
of  Constantino  for  the  Church  in  her  days  of  feeble  youth 
as  that  of  "a  nursing  father  who  overlaid  or  choked  it  in 
the  nursing."* 

The  experiences  of  the  British  Protestant  clmrches  are 
singularly  valuable  and  instructive  to  us  in  respect  to  their 
efforts  to  ally  themselves  with  the  State  in  such  a  way  as  to 
derive  from  it  the  benefits  of  secular  law  and  maintenance, 
while  they  yielded  in  return  those  of  religious  services  and 
instruction  to  its  subjects.  In  the  Episcopal  Established 
Church  the  political  sovereign  is  its  legal  head,  and  the 
government  appoints  its  officials.  In  other  bodies  various 
degrees  of  subserviency  have  existed.  The  seceders  from 
the  Scotch  Established  Church,  who  formed  in  1842  the  Free 
Church,  had  desperately  but  all  in  vain  struggled  to  unite 
dependence  on  the  State  with  fealty  to  the  interests  of 
Christianity;  or,  as  the  Rev.  Dr.  Chalmers  said,t  to  "har- 
monize the  principle  of  a  national  establishment  of  Chris- 
tianity with  the  principle  of  spiritual  independence."  The 
long  and  painful  series  of  disruptions  and  disestablishments, 
is  leading  the  British  people,  and  should  assist  us  in  America, 
to  discern  that  the  divine  plan  for  the  maintenance  and 

*  Milton,    The  Likeliest  Means  to  Remove  Hirelings    out  of  the 
Church;  Prose  Works,  II.,  146. 
t  Hanna  ;  Life  and  Writings  of  Chalmers,  IV.,  chaps,  vii.,  etc. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   BENEFICENCE.  49 

spread  of  religion  is  not  State  grants  and  patronage ;  nor 
yet  is  it  that  unregulated  "Voluntaryism"  to  which  the 
leaders  of  the  Free  Church  disruption  earnestly  objected  as 
insufficient  and  unreliable.  It  is  the  perfect  plan  which  is 
revealed,  though  long  overlooked,  in  the  New  Testament. 

Third  Stage,  Era  of  Hildebrand. 

The  third  great  stage  of  Christianity,  that  beginning  with 
the  papacy  of  Hildebrand,  pope  Gregory  VII.,  reveals  to 
us  the  Church  stronger  than  the  State — the  pope  claiming 
that  all  kings  and  kingdoms,  their  religious  and  their  civil 
law,  and  all  their  property  and  interests,  were  subject  to  him ; 
distributing  thrones  and  possessions  as  the  earthly  vicegerent 
of  God. 

Amidst  the  frightful  disorders,  in-eligion  and  dissoluteness 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  we  can  clearly  trace  the  origin  of  the 
doctrines  and  practices  which  created  or  allowed  them  to  one 
grand  source — that  ' '  root  of  all  evil ' '  of  which  Paul  spoke 
to  the  early  Church.  The  imperious  "lords  over  God's 
heritage,"  in  that  period  of  terrible  darkness  and  iniquity, 
"fed  the  flock  of  God"  "for  filthy  lucre."*  The  doctrines 
and  offices  of  religion  were  all  erected  into  a  grand  engine  for 
getting  money.  The  distinctions  of  classes  and  grades  of 
venial  sins,  as  distinguished  from  those  sins  which  are  mor- 
tal, were  parts  of  it;  Hence  the  imputed  value  of  works  of 
merit ;  the  commercial  estimates  as  to  penances  for  sins  al- 
ready committed,  and  those  as  to  indulgences  even  for  sins 
which  men  purpose  hereafter  to  commit,  f    Hence  the  as- 

*  1  Tim.  vi.  10.     1  Pet.  v.  2,  3. 

•j-  A  volume  was  published  in  London,  in  16T4,  entitled  "Taxes 


50       god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

sumed  efl&cacy  of  certain  forms  of  worship  and  of  prayers 
in  a  dead  and  unknown  language ;  and  the  superior  sanctity 
of  a  priesthood,  its  isolation  from  society,  and  monastic  and 
ascetic  practices.  Hence  the  doctrines  of  purgatory  and 
limbo ;  and  the  consequent  pecuniary  value  of  extreme  unc- 
tion for  the  dying  and  of  masses  for  the  dead,  and  of  prayers 
to  canonized  saints  and  to  angels. 

"All  things,"  said  the  old  proverb,  "can  be  bought  and 
sold  at  Rome."  The  churches  of  the  city  of  Rome — so 
huge,  so  gorgeous,  so  rich,  so  beautiful,  so  adorned  with  all 
that  earthly  wealth  can  procure,  that  the  most  splendid 
palaces  of  emperors  and  kings  look  mean  and  worthless 
compared  with  them — ^what  an  exhibition  they  are  of  the 
proceeds  of  that  dreadful  merchandise  of  all  things  costly 
and  dehcious ;  and  that  merchandise  of  slaves,  and  souls  of 
men ;  the  merchandise  of  human  virtue,  of  the  truth  of 

of  the  Apostolical  Chancery"  etc.,  whicli  contains  many  tables  of  the 
cost  of  bulls,  dispensations,  pardons,  etc.  Anthony  Egane  gave  a 
list  of  many  pages  of  the  regular  prices,  which  were  fixed  at  Rome 
before  the  Reformation  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  of  Ireland,  of 
dispensations  for  all  imaginable  kinds  of  sin.  Thus,  "  If  either 
father  or  mother,  sister  or  brother,  do  strangle  or  smother  an  infant, 
they  are  to  pay  £4,  2s."  To  kill  a  bishop,  cost  £36,  9s. ;  a  priest, 
£6, 2s. ;  a  father,  mother,  brother  or  sister,  £4,  Is.,  8d.  The  dispen- 
sation of  an  oath  or  contract,  £7,  2s.,  3d.  See  Quart.  Rev.  of  Amer. 
Prot.  Ass. ;  July,  1845.  The  same  privileges  were  granted  to  other 
nations.  At  the  valuation  of  Tetzel,  in  Germany,  "  polygamy  cost 
six  ducats;  sacrilege  and  perjury,  nine  ducats;  murder,  eight; 
witchcraft,  two."  At  that  of  Samson,  in  Switzerland,  "infanticide" 
was  rated  at  "four  livres  tournois;  parricide,  or  fratricide,  at  one 
ducat."     D'Auhigne,  History  of  Reformation,  Book  III. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF   BENEFICENCE.  51 

God,  and  of  the  blood  of  prophets  and  saints ;  which  in  one 
hour  shall  be  brought  to  desolation !  Well  may  the  apostle 
cry :  "Rejoice  over  her,  thou  heaven,  and  ye  holy  apostles 
and  prophets,  for  God  hath  avenged  you  on  her."  * 

There  is  no  sight  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth  so  dreadful 
as  those  wonderfully  magnificent  churches  and  religious 
edifices  of  Rome.  .  The  Saviour  of  men  pronounced  his 
most  terrible  woes  upon  the  "  hypocrisy  and  iniquity  "  which 
built  the  tombs  of  the  prophets  and  garnished  the  sepulchres 
of  the  righteous,  but  was  within  full  of  extortion  and  ex- 
cess ;  upon  the  men  who  themselves  "  are  like  unto  whited 
sepulchres,  which  appear  indeed  beautiful  outward,  but  are 
within  full  of  dead  men's  bones  and  all  uncleanness. "  f 
Then  how  immeasurably  great  and  dreadful  must  be  his 
condemnation  of  the  hypocrisy  and  iniquity  which  have 
reared  those  vast  monuments  of  long  ages  of  fraud,  prac- 
ticed not  on  one  small  nation  but  on  the  whole  race  of  man, 
of  avarice  insatiable,  of  crimes  untold,  of  the  waters  of  the 
cup  of  salvation  converted  into  deadly  poison,  of  the  gospel 
of  the  grace  of  God  to  all  lost  and  ruined  souls  turned  into 
pictures,  statues,  mosaics,  gems,  and  every  form  of  enchant- 
ing luxury  and  delight  of  the  eye,  the  ear,  and  every  carnal 
sense. 

This  third  great  era  conveys,  in  God's  providence,  a 
lesson  which  the  people  of  God  can  never,  must  never,  for- 
get. It  is  the  frightful  picture  of  the  dominion  of  mammon 
in  the  house  of  God !  It  is  the  lesson  of  the  culmination 
of  the  lust  for  superiority  of  place,  for  refinements  of 
knowledge  and  speech,  for  luxurious  edifices  of  worship  and 
*  Rev.  xix.  t  Matt,  xxiii.  27-29. 


52       god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

charity,  for  stained  windows  and  ornamented  walls,  and  for 
exquisite  music.  Rome  for  centuries  has  had  them  all,  so 
grandly  that  any  competition  of  ours  is  vain  apish  mimicry. 
But  what  has  she  with  them?  "How  much  she  hath 
glorified  herself  and  lived  deliciously,  so  much  torment  and 
sorrow  give  her.  Therefore  shall  her  plagues  come  in  one 
day,  death,  and  mourning,  and  famine ;  and  she  shall  be 
utterly  burned  with  fire :  for  strong  is  the  Lord  God  who 
judgeth  her."  * 

To  every  Protestant  people,  to  every  sincere  spiritual 
soul,  how  plain,  how  sufficient,  should  be  the  practical  con- 
clusion from  this  great  divine  lesson. 

*  Rev.  xviii.  7,  8. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

JEBA  OF  THE  REFORMATION:  ITS  BENEFITS. 

TTTHAT  was  the  immediate  divine  purpose  toward  the 
*  '  Church  in  the  fourth  era  of  its  history,  that  of  the 
Protestant  Reformation  ?  Preparation,  disciphne,  organiza- 
tion. 

The  lesson  of  the  first  era,  we  saw,  was  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Grhost.  That  of  the  second  era,  the  evils  of  an  alli- 
ance between  the  two,  in  which  the  State  is  superior  to  the 
Church.  That  of  the  third  era,  those  of  an  alliance  of  the 
opposite  kind,  in  which  the  Church  is  superior  to  the  State. 
These  are  the  three  great  experiences  which  are  necessary  to 
prepare  the  Church  for  the  fourth  era,  which  commenced 
with  Luther,  and  is  yet  in  progress.  The  lesson  of  it  is  the 
duties,  the  power,  and  the  final  honors,  of  her  single  and 
sincere  allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ  as  her  almighty  Head 
and  King.  She  learns  to  discipline  and  organize  all  the 
boundless  resources  which  she  finds  that  he  bestows  upon 
his  faithful  followers,  with  the  supreme  determination  to 
make  him  the  Lord  of  all. 

The  illustrations  of  the  preparation  of  society  and  the 
Church  for  the  coming  reign  of  Christ  are  so  numerous,  and 
every  one  in  its  place  so  interesting,  that  the  briefest  con- 
sideration of  them  would  swell  this  volume  far  beyond  its 

53 


54       god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

proposed  limits.  We  can  only  suggest  the  leading  topics 
which  may  be  studied,  thought  upon,  and  their  relations 
to  personal  duty  and  to  the  obligations  of  the  Church 
prayerfully  considered. 

Tliejirst  manifest  result  of  the  Protestant  Reformation  has 
been  a  restoration  of  spirituality  of  faith.  This  is  illustrated 
by  the  history  during  the  past  four  centuries  of  such  sub- 
jects as  the  following : 

The  successive  translations  of  the  word  of  God  into  the 
common  languages  of  nearly  all  nations. 

The  restoration  of  purity  of  doctrine.  The  definition, 
and  systematization,  of  creeds.  The  exploration  of  Ori- 
ental literature.  The  elucidation  of  Scripture  by  acquaint- 
ance with  the  geography,  productions,  etc.,  of  Palestine 
and  neighboring  lands. 

Re-establishment  of  spirituality  of  worship.  Abandon- 
ment of  symbolism ;  of  unnecessary  ecclesiastical  forms ;  of 
liturgical  worship. 

Reassertion  of  the  right  of  private  judgment.  Personal 
and  domestic  use  of  the  Scriptures.  Associations  of  the 
laity  for  prayer  and  the  advancement  of  religion.  Cultiva- 
tion of  personal  responsibility  to  God. 

The  large  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  extensive  revivals  of 
religion. 

The  progressive  quickening  of  the  Churches  of  Christ 
with  the  spirit  of  missions ;  with  desires  for  the  salvation, 
and  spiritual  improvement,  of  men  of  all  classes  and  con- 
ditions. 

The  second  class  of  benefits  resulting  from  the  Reforma- 


BENEFITS  OF   THE   REFOEMATION.  55 

tion  is  that  related  to  the  intellectual  improvement  of  man- 
kind.    We  group  under  it  such  topics  as  these : 

Universal  awakening  of  the  human  intellect  preparatory, 
and  subsequent  to,  Reformation. 

Revival  of  learning.     Boundless  enlargement  till  now. 

Prevalence  of  sounder  principles  of  reasoning.  Rise  of 
inductive  method  in  philosophy.  Immense  and  ever-increas- 
ing influence  upon  all  departments  of  science,  and  the  em- 
ployments of  men. 

Invention  of  printing ;  variety  of  applications ;  inestimable 
advantages. 

Progressive  extension  of  education  to  the  common  people. 

Development  of  national  systems  of  taxation  for  educa- 
tion and  for  objects  connected  with  intellectual  improvement 
of  society. 

Improvement  of  educational  literature.  Introduction  of 
rational  methods  of  instruction. 

Elevation  of  practical  departments  of  knowledge  in  educa- 
tion. Illustration  of  themes  of  instruction  by  material  ob- 
jects, by  applications  of  various  arts,  by  painting,  photog- 
raphy, the  camera,  etc.  The  popular  lecture  system.  Im- 
mense influence  of  hymns  and  music  adapted  to  children. 
Science  of  school  architecture. 

The  rise,  world-wide  diffusion,  and  power,  of  Sabbath- 
schools. 

The  relief  of  the  several  afflicted  classes  of  society ;  its 
literature,  methods,  benefits  to  the  objects,  and  humanizing 
effects  upon  society. 

Forms  of  popularization  of  literature ;  cheap  multiplica- 
tion of  them  by  the  press. 


The  tliird  powerful  effect  of  the  Reformation  was  the 
awakening  of  men  to  their  poHtical  and  social  rights.  Hence 
we  are  led  to  inquire  into  the  following  subjects : 

The  gradual  development  of  true  principles  as  to  the  in- 
herent rights  of  man.  Overthrow  of  theory  of  the  divine 
right  of  kings,  and  of  various  false  political  systems  and 
oppressive  usages. 

Establishment  of  constitutional  and  representative  forms  of 
government  among  the  various  nations  of  the  world. 

Concession  of  right  of  suffrage  to  all  classes  of  society ; 
its  effects  upon  the  degraded  and  ignorant. 

Reforms  in  legislation.  Reforms  in  penal  discipline. 
Diminution  of  capital  punishments. 

Improvements  in  police  systems. 

Abolition  of  slavery  in  different  countries ;  by  peaceful 
emancipation,  as  in  British,  Portuguese  and  Spanish  colo- 
nies, Russia,  Dutch  possessions,  Siam  ;  by  war,  as  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  effects  of  that  war  upon  other  na- 
tions, even  the  most  remote. 

We  look  under  the  fourth  head  for  matters  connected  with 
the  improvement  of  the  physical  condition  of  the  human 
race. 

This  naturally  leads  us  to  observe  the  grand  results  which 
have  flowed  from  the  geographical  discoveries  of  this  era ; 
the  discovery  of  America,  and  vast  benefaction  of  arable 
and  mineral  territory  to  the  human  race  ;  discovery  of  the 
passage  to  the  East  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ;  revolu- 
tions caused  by  shortening  of  commercial  communication 
with  ancient  nations  of  the  East. 


BENEFITS  OF  THE  REFORMATION.     57 

Effects  of  cutting  and  bridging  by  railroads  tlie  great 
isthmuses  of  Suez  and  Panama. 

Discoveries  of  coal ;  domestic  use  ;  uses  for  manufactures. 
New  and  innumerable  applications  of  iron*  to  beneficial 
ends ;  those  of  other  metals. 

Invention  of  steam  and  other  motive  powers  as  to  their 
manifold  practical  applications  in  facilitating  labor  and 
multiplying  its  proceeds,  f 

■*"  A  bright  young  Chinese,  who  had  been  well  educated  at  one  of 
our  mission  schools  in  his  own  country,  on  his  return  from  a  visit 
which  he  made  to  America,  was  asked  what  had  most  struck  him  in 
the  appearance  of  our  cities  ?  He  answered,  one  thing  was  the 
great  abundance  and  variety  of  the  uses  of  iron.  It  must  ever  as- 
tonish a  person  from  Oriental  lands,  where  their  usages  are  still 
those  of  the  early  or  Middle  Ages,  and  where  they  rarely  use  even 
common  nails  of  iron,  to  see  this  most  difficult  of  the  common  metals 
to  work  applied  to  architecture,  ship-building,  railroads,  bridges, 
massive  machinery,  telegraphy,  and  almost  every  conceivable  want 
of  ordinary  life.  It  should  be  remembered  by  us  that  almost  all 
this  has  come  with  the  present  century. 

f  It  has  been  estimated  that  the  steam  power  of  Great  Britain 
alone  equals  the  combined  manual  labor  of  one  third  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  world.  The  proceeds  of  the  industry  of  the  entire  race 
are  fully  doubled  by  the  machinery  which  the  capital  of  the  several 
nations  of  Christian  Europe  and  America  has  placed  in  the  hands 
of  its  people.  Within  those  great  centres  of  manufacturing  activity 
men  now  Virtually  live  three  times  as  long,  perform  three  times  as 
much  labor,  and  enjoy  more  than  three  times  as  much  of  the  bene- 
fits of  human  toil  and  skill,  as  did  their  fathers  of  a  century  ago. 
Many  particular  individuals  and  communities  have  risen  to  a  rela- 
tive position,  as  compared  with  those  of  times  past,  which  can 
hardly  be  estimated. 


58 


Means  of  illumination  of  dwellings,  streets,  and  places  of 
public  convocation  ;  gas ;  petroleum ;  chemical  possibilities 
of  far  more  powerful  agencies. 

Improvements  in  clothing.  Machinery  for  weaving  vari- 
ous materials.  Increase  of  cotton.  Invention  of  sewing 
machine ;  rapid  spread  over  the  world ;  effects  on  uncivil- 
ized nations. " 

Variety,  exchange  and  increase  of  agricultural  and  horti- 
cultural productions.  Fertilizers.  Machinery  for  reaping, 
mowing,  etc. 

Instrumentalities  for  the  relief  of  suffering.  Inestimable 
improvements  in  medicine  and  surgery. 

Discoveries  of  prophylactics ;  vaccination ;  quinine. 

Systems  for  alleviation  of  natural  calamities.  Life  insur- 
ance. Savings  banks.  Fire  insurance.  Fire  engines  and 
associations.     Marine  insurance. 

Sanitary  improvements.  Water  supply  of  cities.  Sewage 
of  cities. 

Interment  of  dead  in  rural  cemeteries. 

A  final  class  of  means  in  the  Divine  hand  for  prepar- 
ing mankind  for  the  coming  kingdom  of  Christ  includes 
the  agencies  for  the  universal  diffusion  of  the  benefits 
which  are  conferred.  Under  this  may  be  grouped  the  fol- 
lowing : 

Invention  of  railroads;    wonderful    extension    over   all 

*  The  writer  was  greatly  impressed  in  visiting  some  of  the  islands 
in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  the  Indian  Archipelago,  to  observe  how 
Christian  missions  and  Christian  commerce  put  our  clothing  upon 
uncivilized  races.  Thus  we  comprehend  the  final  mission  of  the 
sew  in  ST  machine. 


BENEFITS  OF   THE   REFORMATION.  59 

countries.  Application  of  steam  in  locomotive.  Improve- 
ments in  comfort  and  safety  of  traveling ;  sleeping  cars. 

Use  of  steam  in  propulsion  of  vessels  on  water.  Improve- 
ments in  sailing  vessels. 

Universal  interchange  of  useful  products;  commercial 
facilities ;  commercial  associations  and  agencies. 

Introduction  of  newspapers.  Benefits  of  the  religious 
press.  Inventions  for  illustrating  papers  and  books.  Uses 
of  lithography,  ^photography,  etc. ,  in  the  dissemination  of 
knowledge.     Advantages  to  heathen  races. 

Facilities  for  postal  communication.  Cheap  postage. 
Transportation  of  books,  seeds,  etc.,  by  mail ;  extension  to 
most  distant  nations. 

The  electric  telegraph ;  various  meth(Ms  in  telegraphing ; 
trans-oceanic  communications ;  extension  around  the  whole 
world. 

Centralization  of  commerce  in  hands  of  Protestant  Chris- 
tian nations.  Moral  and  religious  causes  of  decline  of  com- 
merce of  Venice ;  Portugal ;  Spain ;  Holland.  Causes  of 
unparalleled  increase  of  commerce  of  Great  Britain ;  of 
Germany ;  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Just  as  the  great  fact  of  the  approach  of  the  morning 
sun  accounts  for  ten  thousand  others  in  every  department 
of  nature,  in  air  and  earth  and  sea,  in  the  vegetable  and 
animal  and  even  mineral  kingdoms,  in  the  movements  and 
employments  of  mankind,  in  things  that  affect  the  welfare 
of  every  man,  woman  and  child ;  so  that  greater  flict  that 
"the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand"  accounted  for  the 
innumerable  ways  in  which  the  Old  Dispensation  was  pre- 


pared  for  the  manifestation  of  the  Son  of  God  to  suffer  for 
sin,  and  accounts  for  those  greater  and  more  impressive 
ways  in  which  this  New  Dispensation  is  prepared  for  the 
reign  of  his  glory. 

Peculiar  Financial  Benefits  of  this  Era. 

In  pondering  and  trying  to  estimate  the  relations  of 
money  to  the  stupendous  movements  of  this  era,  we  are 
deeply  impressed  with  several  great  benefits  to  mankind 
which  attend  it. 

The  first  financial  benefit  of  this  era  has  been  the  immense 
and  increasing  influx  of  the  precious  metals  from  its  com- 
mencement until  the  present  time.  During  the  first  half  of 
the  century  followmg  the  discovery  of  America  there  was 
an  average  annual  supply  of  about  three  millions  of  dollars ; 
during  the  last  half  it  swelled  to  eleven  millions.  The 
following  entire  century  averaged  sixteen  millions.  The  first 
half  of  the  last  century  brought  in  over  twenty-two  millions 
a  year ;  the  last  half  over  thirty-three  millions.  The  first 
quarter  of  the  present  century  averaged  more  than  fifty-four 
millions.  But  vast  and  rapid  as  was  the  increase  in  three 
centuries,  that  is,  from  an  influx  of  three  to  one  of  fifty- 
four  millions  a  year,  it  suddenly  doubled  that  rate  at  the 
middle  of  the  present  centur3\  Since  then  a  deluge  of 
the  precious  metals  has  been  poured  into  the  New  World, 
and  into  all  the  Old  World  by  the  vast  discoveries  of  them 
in  California  and  the  states  and  territories  east  and  south  of 
it,  in  Mexico  and  British  America,  in  Australia  and  New 
Zealand,  in  the  Ural  Mountains  of  Russia,  in  Eastern 
Siberia  and  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 

The  total  amount  of  the  precious  metals  in  the  world  is 


BENEFITS   OF   THE   REFORMATION.  61 

estimated  by  some  of  the  best  judges*  to  have  been  previous 
to  the  discovery  of  America  two  thousand  milhons  of  dol- 
lars; at  present,  about  ten  thousand  milhons,  which  is 
nearly  equally  divided  between  gold  and  silver.  About 
three  thousand  millions  of  this  is  in  coin. 

This  continually  swelling  flood  has  unsettled,  and  as  a 
whole  lifted  to  a  higher  level,  the  whole  structure  of  modern 
society,  and  powerfully  affected  all  the  ordinary  employ- 
ments and  interests  of  men,  even  in  the  most  distant  and 
isolated  countries.  They  have  been  heaved  and  moved  by 
a  strange  power  which  they  did  not  comprehend.  They 
have  been  waked  to  influences  which  before  had  no  control 
over  them.  The  whole  world  and  all  its  institutions,  has 
been  shaken  and  changed  by  the  rising  of  this  deluge  of  gold 
aijd  silver.  As  to  material  agencies,  an  eminent  authority 
upon  these  subjects  saysif  "there  is  but  one  way  of  really 
improving  the  condition  of  the  laboring  class,  and  that  is  by 
increasing  the  ratio  of  capital  to  population. ' '  This  is  not 
a  sound  statement ;  but  measured  by  this  standard,  the  facts 
we  have  mentioned  with  regard  to  the  influx  of  the  metals 
which  are  the  basis  of  capital  are  an  important  indication  of 
rapidly  maturing  and  most  beneficent  purposes  of  God  with 
regard  to  the  general  condition  of  mankind. 

Another  great  financial  benefit  of  the  present  era  is  the 
different  forms  and  extensive  use  of  the  credit  system.  The 
vast  multiplication  of  money  by  the  modern  banking  system, 
the  development  of  the  resources  of  countries  by  associated 

*  Humboldt,  McCulloch,  Jacobs  [Hist,  of  Precious  Metah),  and 
information  from  the  United  States  Mint,  Philadelphia. 
t  McCulloch. 


capital  issuing  its  bonds  and  inviting  investments  bearing  a 
regulated  interest,  the  manifold  applications  of  insurance,  the 
hypothetical  transfer  of  capital  for  commercial  payments  of 
any  amount,  even  in  distant  countries,  by  paper  draughts,  or 
by  telegraphic  orders,  the  stability  and  power  imparted  to 
governments  by  the  power  to  issue  bonds  payable  in  future 
time — these  and  many  other  applications  of  the  modern 
credit  system  form  an  element  which  is  of  incalculable  im- 
portance to  the  industry  and  commerce  of  the  world,*  and 
to  the  supremacy  of  Christian  civilization  among  its  nations. 
It  is  a  means  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  supply,  and 
to  the  safe  transfer,  of  the  pecuniary  means  which  are 
necessary  to  the  evangelization  of  remote  nations. 

It  is  a  third  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  influx  of 
wealth  in  this  era  that  its  beneficial  effects  have  been  most 
abundantly  felt  by  the  poorer  classes  of  society.  The  proph- 
ecies of  the  reign  of  the  Messiah  which  promise  its  blessings 
most  abundantly  to  the  poor,  and  to  ' '  the  children  of  the 
needy,"  are  truly  beginning  to  be  fulfilled.  Their  condition 
has  been  elevated  far  more  than  that  of  others  in  the  gen- 
eral rise.  The  several  great  classes  of  spiritual,  intellectual, 
political,  social,  and  physical  benefits,  which  we  have -con- 
sidered as  resulting  from  the  Reformation,  have  been  dis- 
tributed in  the  valleys  and  plains  of  society,  and  have  only 
partially  reached  the  higher  grounds.  Thus  said  Isaiah: 
"  the  city  shall  be  low  in  a  low  place,  "f 

*  "  Excepting  the  merest  retail  business,  not  one  per  cent,  of  the 
payments  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  are  made  in  real 
money."     Col  well,  Wa^s  and  Means  of  Payment ;  p.  2. 

f  Ps.  Ixxii.  4.     Isa.  xxxii.  19. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

DEFECTS    OF  THE  REFORMATION,  AND    THEIR 
RESULTS. 

TT7HEN  scnitinized  merely  as  a  religious  movement  there 
'  '     appear  two  great  defects  in  the  Reformation  itself. 
Unless  we  consider  these  we  can  hardly  understand  the 
pecuniary  failures  of  Protestantism,  and  their  remedy. 

The  Great  Doctrinal  Defect. 

The  Reformation  was  a  mighty  revival  of  religion ;  the 
first  of  the  great  "latter-day"  outpourings  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  which  are  to  convert  the  whole  world;  the  angel 
"flj^ng  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  having  the  everlasting 
gospel  to  preach  unto  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth,  and 
to  every  nation,  and  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people."  * 
The  first  Pentecost  regenerated  a  great  number  from  the 
ancient  Jewish  Church,  which  was  then  finally  abandoned 
to  formalism  and  destruction;  this  second  one  redeemed 
millions  from  the  Christian  Church  when  the  same  spiritual 
death,  like  that  of  winter  to  the  landscape,  had  fallen  upon 
it.  In  the  experience  of  the  believers  of  the  second  Pente- 
cost there  is  much  to  remind  us  of  that  of  the  converts  of 
the  first. 

The  first  great  outpourings  of  the  Holy  Ghost  filled  the 
souls  of  Christians  with  intense  emotional  enjoyments,  which 

*  Rev.  xiv.  6. 

63 


64       god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

led  some  to  neglect  the  practical  duties  of  tlieir  profession. 
The  public  performance  of  these  duties,  indeed,  marked  men 
and  women  as  victims  for  heathen  persecution.  For  these 
and  other  reasons  it  became  necessary  for  the  apostle  James, 
"  the  Lord's  brother,"  to  address  to  the  churches  a  general 
epistle  teaching  the  necessity  of  good  works  as  the  fmit  and 
evidence  of  true  faith.  The  epistles  of  Peter  also  are  to  be 
understood  much  in  the  same  light. 

It  is  a  fact  of  great  significance,  in  studying  the  lessons  of 
Church  history,  that  the  intensity  of  Martin  Luther's  ap- 
prehension of  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  alone, 
and  the  energy  of  his  opposition  to  the  all-prevalent  formal- 
ism about  him,  so  unsettled  his  judgment  and  his  ordinary 
docility  of  obedience  to  Scripture,  that  he  fell  into  the 
gross  error  of  denying  the  authenticity  and  authority  of  this 
epistle  of  James.  He  says :  "  The  epistle  of  James  I  do  not 
consider  as  the  writing  of  an  apostle  at  all.  ...  It  ascribes 
justification  to  works,  in  direct  contradistinction  to  Paul 
and  all  the  other  sacred  writers.  .  .  .  James  enjoins  only 
the  law  and  works ;  and  so  confuses  the  one  with  the  other 
that  it  appears  to  me  as  if  some  good  pious  man  had  caught 
a  few  sayings  from  the  disciples  of  the  apostles,  and  com- 
mitted them  to  paper.  Or  it  is  possibly  written  by  another 
person  from  his  preaching." 

The  Scriptures  principally  teach  not  only  "what  man  is  to 
believe  concerning  God,"  but  also  "what  duty  God  requires 
of  man."  The  latter  co-equal  and  vital  part  of  the  word  of 
God  was  imagined  to  be  inconsistent  with  the  doctrines  of 
grace.  Andrew  Carlstadt  held  the  view  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, since  retained  by  the  Socinians,  that  it  is  only  a  com- 


DEFECTS  OF  THE  REFORMATION.      65 

memorative  ordinance.  Neither  Luther  nor  Melancthon 
sufficiently  valued  the  authority  of  the  Sabbath  itself,  as 
binding  in  this  dispensation.  There  are  many  such  evidences 
that  the  general  tendency  of  the  Reformation  at  first  was  to 
depreciate  the  obligation  of  the  positive  ordinances  of 
Christianity. 

There  was  then  in  the  sentiments  of  the  men  of  that  great 
period  a  grand  defect  which  has  been  felt  throughout  the 
entire  body  of  the  Protestant  Churches,  which  continually 
refresh  their  faith  and  zeal  at  these  sources.  The  result  as 
to  the  duties  connected  with  the  theme  of  beneficence  which 
we  are  now  considering  would  plainly  be  that,  however 
definitely  and  positively  stated,  an  ordinance  relating  to  the 
contribution  of  money,  the  source  so  largely  of  the  dreadful 
abuses  which  the  Reformers  were  laboring  through  Christ  to 
remove,  would  probably  be  regarded  with  disfavor,  or  en- 
tirely passed  by  as  not  obligator}'. 

The  Great  Practical  Defect. 
A  second  grand  defect  in  the  power  of  the  Reformation 
was  of  a  practical  character.  It  arose  from  an  extraordi- 
nary peculiarity  of  this  great  revival,  namely,  that  there  was 
no  immediate  need,  comparable  with  its  extent  and  efi'ects 
at  least,  for  money  to  build  churches,  and  establish  schools 
and  colleges,  on  account  of  the  immense  confiscations  of 
monkish  and  episcopal  property,  which  had  been  accumu- 
lating for  centuries  previous  in  the  hands  of  the  Roman 
Church.  Hence  an  appointment  of  the  New  Testament 
respecting  collections  of  money  would  not  press  itself  upon 
the  consideration  of  the  Protestants;   and  provisions  for 


QQ      god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

them  worthy  of  the  obligations  and  ultimate  aims  and  glori- 
ous hopes  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  would  not  be  made. 

The  Reformation  gave  Energy  to  Romanism. 

One  effect  of  the  Reformation  was  a  very  memorable  one. 
While  the  good  men  who  had  rescued  the  truth,  amidst  the 
homes  of  their  fathers,  from  the  dungeons  and  chains  of 
ages,  were  content  to  improve  there  their  victory,  Roman- 
ism yielded  that  field  only  to  set  herself  to  far  wider  and 
easier  conquests.  The  establishment  of  the  order  of  the 
Jesuits,  the  reinspiration  of  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans 
with  a  zeal  for  foreign  missions,  and  the  subsequent  rise  and 
activity  in  missionary  fields  of  the  Lazarists  and  some  other 
orders,  saved  her  from  ruin  and  made  her  really  stronger 
than  she  was  before. 

The  influence  of  those  two  grand  original  defects  as  to  the 
money  power,  a  means  absolutely  essential  to  growth  and 
extension,  has  been  vitally  and  disastrously  injurious  to  all 
subsequent  Protestant  Christianity.  Romanism  has  con- 
tinuously despatched  its  bands  of  missionaries  over  the 
world;  but  Protestant  churches,  previous  to  the  present 
century,  aimlessly  sent  forth  here  and  there  an  individual. 
Romanism  enlisted  men  of  learning  and  experience,  and 
even  of  rank ;  she  munificently  equipped  them  with  astro- 
nomical and  other  scientific  apparatus,  that  is  of  inestimable 
value  in  overturning  the  superstitious  notions  of  the  heathen 
and  disposing  them  to  listen  to  the  truths  and  overtures  of 
the  gospel.  The  foreign  missionaries  of  Protestant  churches 
have  been  volunteer  striplings,  fresh  from  the  theological 
schools,  unproven,  and  scantily  furnished  with  needful  in- 


DEFECTS  OF  THE  REFORMATION.      67 

strum entalities.  Eomanism,  as  the  consequence,  even  after 
the  catastrophes  of  the  Reformation,  has  again  thoroughly 
aroused  the  affections  and  disciphned  the  strength  of  her 
people ;  while  Protestantism,  until  reanimated  by  the  revivals 
and  missionary  zeal  of  the  present  century,  has  exhibited 
unending  disruptions  and  disintegration.  Romanism  till  of 
late  seemed  entirely  to  have  arrested  at  least  the  geograph- 
ical extension  of  Protestantism.  The  general  impression 
which  the  consideration  of  Protestantism  leaves  upon  a  reflect- 
ing mind  is,  that  only  the  merciful  power  of  God  preserves  it ; 
that  by  Romanism  is,  that  had  it  only  that  power,  its  com- 
pactness, its  discipline,  its  confidence,  and  its  effectual  con- 
trol of  the  pecuniary  means  of  even  its  humblest  members, 
would  send  forth  its  legions  triumphant  over  all  the  earth. 

We  are  able  to  trace  in  history,  very  clearly,  the  twofold 
results — those  affecting  the  Church  within  and  without — 
which  flow  from  the  neglect  to  use  for  the  glory  of  Grod  and 
for  the  good  of  mankind  the  benefits  which  Grod  has  so 
abundantly  granted  to  her. 

MiSIMPROVEMENT  OF   God's  BlESSINGS  THE  BlIGHT  OF 

THE  Church  Within. 
Looking  loithiri,  we  see  that  God  has  turned  the  blessings 
which  he  has  bestowed  into  a  curse  to  the  churches  them- 
selves. He  has  greatly  multiplied  their  wealth.  Just  as 
the  vital  force  of  the  heart  impels  the  circulation  of  the 
blood  in  the  whole  body,  so  the  great  Governor  of  the  world 
has  ordered  it  that  the  Protestant  Christianity  of  the  world 
controls  at  this  time  its  riches.  The  gold  and  silver,  the 
exchange,  the  scientific  and  inventive  skill,  the  manufac- 


68       god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

tures,  the  commerce,  the  military  and  naval  power,  all  the 
accompaniments  of  national  wealth,  receive  the  pulsations 
which  cause  them  to  circulate  from  pole  to  pole,  here  in  the 
Christian  centre.  These  are  temporal  blessings  which  result 
from  the  comparatively  higher  morality,  justice,  intelligence 
and  industry  of  races  which  are  enlightened  by  Divine  reve- 
lation. 

But  as  riches  have  increased  they  have  "set  their  heart" 
upon  them.  They  have  loved  them,  and  honored  them, 
and  coveted  them,  and  made  them  their  god.  They  have 
forgotten  the  words  of  Christ:  "No  man  can  serve  two 
masters :  for  either  he  will  hate  the  one  and  love  the  other ; 
or  else  he  will  hold  to  the  one  and  despise  the  other.  Ye 
cannot  serve  GoD  and  Mammon."  Jehovah,  who  gave  as 
the  first  commandment,  "Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods 
before  me,"  gave  as  the  last,  "Thou  shalt  not  covet."  For 
this  great  and  capital  sin  Grod  cursed  the  ancient  Israel.  He 
says,  "For  the  inicjuity  of  his  covetousness  was  I  wroth 
and  smote  him ;  I  hid  me,  and  was  wroth ;  and  he  went  on 
frowardly  in  the  way  of  his  heart."  This  sin  is  made  the 
evil  and  abominable  thing,  which  God  hates,  of  the  New 
Testament  dispensation;  for  "covetousness  is  idolatry." 
And  "  no  covetous  man,  who  is  an  idolater,  hath  any  inher- 
itance in  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  of  God."  * 

The  reason  of  God's  great  anger  with  covetousness  is  that 
it  is  finally  but  the  love  of  self.  It  is  the  desire  for  the  most 
efiective  means  to  accomplish  the  will  and  purposes  of  self; 
the  rebellion  of  self  against  the  sovereign  claims  of  God. 
This  deadly  corruption  of  our  nature  comes  forth  in  a  great 
*  Isa.  Ivii.  17.     Col.  iii.  5.     Eph.  v.  5. 


DEFECTS  OF   THE    REFOKMATION.  69 

many  different  modes  of  manifestation.  Just  as  the  cancer- 
ous disease  in  the  bodily  system  takes  forms  so  numerous 
and  so  unhke  to  each  other,  the  scarlet  fungus,  the  cheesy 
tubercle,  the  foul  ulcer,  the  purple  stain,  the  white  scirrhus, 
the  wart  on  the  skin,  the  nodule  on  the  bone ;  so  with  the 
multiform  shapes  in  which  this  general  poison  of  the  spirit 
may  exhibit  itself  A  man  may  say  "  I  am  rich,  and  in- 
creased with  goods,  and  have  need  of  nothing ;  and  know 
not  that  he  is  wretched,  and  miserable,  and  poor,  and  blind, 
and  naked.  "^  Independence  as  to  God's  providence,  blind- 
ness as  to  God's  judgments,  haughty  contempt  of  God's 
service,  rejection  of  the  truth  of  God's  word,  neglect  of 
prayer,  are  but  different  symptoms  of  the  conceit  of  supe- 
riority to  human  necessities  which  the  possession  of,  or  even 
passion  for,  money  produces.  In  man's  relations  to  man  it 
comes  forth  in  pride,  the  indulgence  of  lusts,  injustice, 
oppression ;  the  determination,  without  regard  to  conse- 
quences, to  get  money,  is  the  origin  of  falsehood,  cruelty, 
theft,  murder. 

"  Wide  wasting  pest !  that  rages  unconfined, 
And  crowds  with  crime  the  records  of  mankind."f 

In  the  low,  dark,  unhappy  condition  of  the  souls  of  the 
larger  part  of  the  professed  Christians  of  this  age ;  in  the 
unprofitableness  of  the  labors  of  most  ministers  compared 
with  what  the  infinite  power  of  the  gospel  in  their  hands, 
and  the  glorious  promises  and  primitive  examples  of  its  suc- 
cess, would  lead  men  to  expect ;  in  the  incessant  taunts  of 

*  Rev.  iii.  17. 

f  Dr.  Sam.  Johnson  ;  The  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes. 


70       god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

enemies  and  the  triumphant  assumptions  of  infidels ;  in  the 
dissensions  of  believers  and  churches — in  all,  we  trace  at 
bottom  chiefly  the  results  of  the  love  of  self,  and  the  want 
of  a  true  and  entire  consecration  of  Christians,  in  soul,  and 
life,  and  possessions,  to  the  glorious  ends  of  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  Jesus  their  Lord. 

Calamitous  Influence  op  Protestantism  without 
THE  Gospel  upon  the  Nations  of  the  World. 

Let  us  turn  and  take  a  view  of  Protestant  Christianity 
from  without  If  any  one  will  take  the  trouble  to  acquaint 
himself  with  the  opinions  of  thinking  men  of  other  creeds 
and  nations,  he  will  often  be  surprised  and  healthfully 
humbled  to  find  how  different  is  their  estimate  of  the  good 
which  Protestantism  has  accomplished  from  that  which  we 
commonly  entertain. 

The  condition  of  the  classes  that  dig  the  coal  and  iron  and 
tin  of  England,  that  spin  her  cottons,  that  reap  her  har- 
vests, was,  until  within  one  generation,  too  bestialized  and 
wretched  to  contemplate  without  horror.  The  few  pro- 
prietors and  nobility  were  enormously  enriched,  while  the 
poor  from  whose  toils  their  wealth  came  were  not  better 
cared  for  than  the  brutes ;  were  prevented  by  the  system  of 
law  from  obtaining  the  control  of  any  part  of  the  soil; 
lived  a  dependent,  ignorant,  animal  existence;  and  an 
almost  incredible  share  of  them  finished  their  days  as  miser- 
able paupers  in  the  public  poor-houses.  The  English 
theories  of  political  economy  have  largely  given  shape  to  our 
own.  The  continental  writers  of  Europe  have  cried  out 
with  horror  against  the  primary  definition  of  it,  as  the 


DEFECTS   OF   THE   REFORMATION.  71 

science  of  the  production  and  distribution  of  wealth,  and 
the  declaration  that  "wealth,  not  happiness"  is  its  chief 
concern  ;  as  if  provisions  for  morals,  human  wants  and  com- 
forts, individual  sufferings,  and  the  education  and  improve- 
ment of  the  masses,  were  not  fundamental  duties  of  the 
society  upon  which  Providence  bestows  wealth.* 

"When  one  compares  the  amount  of  money  which  the  im- 
measurably less  wealthy  populations  of  European  and  Asi- 
atic countries  give  for  religious  objects  with  that  from  the 
vast  prosperity  and  abundance  which  reigns  in  America  he 
must  be  distressed.  Protestant  consciences  seem  to  have 
divorced  commercial,  manufacturing  and  agricultural  enter- 
prises from  the  duty  of  practical  returns  to  Grod — in  gifts 
proportionate  to  their  remunerativeness,  for  the  advance- 
ment of  his  kingdom  on  earth — or  to  man,  in  donations  and 
labors  to  communicate  the  knowledge  and  blessings  of  the 
gospel.  The  nations  with  which  we  traffic  abroad  commonly 
speak  of  us  as  irreligious  materialists.  Our  commerce,  our 
railroads,  our  factories,  our  sciences  and  arts,  our  ordinary 
business  employments,  seem  almost  to  exclude  from  them 
the  idea  that  men  owe  all  their  wealth  and  prosperity,  all 
their  material,  national  and  social  blessings,  to  God ;  and 
that  they  are  under  obligation  to  render  to  the  Lord,  for  all 
his  benefits,  a  just  and  becoming  tribute. 

One  of  the  most  painful  and  deep  impressions  made  upon 
the  mind  of  a  Christian  who  visits  Eastern  nations,  and 
learns  their  sentiments  and  usages,  is  that  of  the  compara- 

*  The  theories  of  Smith,  Malthus,  Ricardo,  and  other  English 
writers  have  been  earnestly  reprobated  in  this  country  by  Henry  C. 
Carey,  Stephen  Colwell,  and  Frederic  List. 


72      god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

tive  godlessness  of  Protestant  commerce  with  them.  The 
ancient  commerce  of  India  with  Burmah,  Cambodia,  the 
Indian  Archipelago,  Tibet,  and  China,  made  them  Buddh- 
ists ;  and  they  remain  so  till  this  day.  Go  where  he  will 
around  the  world,  even  in  San  Francisco  or  New  York,  the 
Buddhist  is  not  ashamed  of  his  religion.  The  Buddhist  mer- 
chant visits  the  temples  of  the  gods  upon  whose  particular 
aid  he  depends,  and  makes  offerings  and  burns  his  written 
prayers  to  them,  when  he  engages  in  an  important  commer- 
cial enterprise ;  if  it  be  successful,  he  pays  an  oblation  of 
money  to  the  priests,  with  which  they  may  print  religious 
tracts,  or  repair  an  altar,  or  purchase  provisions ;  or  he  may 
possibly,  if  rich,  erect  a  building  for  a  school,  or  pave  a  road, 
or  construct  a  bridge.  Mohammedan  merchants  are  till  this 
day  zealously  carrying  the  Koran  with  their  caravans  into  the 
idolatrous  countries  of  Asia  and  Africa.  Within  recent  years, 
they  have  peacefully  converted  to  their  faith  nations  of  Cen- 
tral Africa,  which  have  only  known  of  England  and  Amer- 
ica by  the  manufactured  cottons,  the  weapons  of  destruction 
and  the  intoxicating  liquors,  which  they  have  received  chiefly 
in  exchange  for  slaves,  and  to  enable  them  to  make  war 
for  the  capture  of  slaves.  The  swarthy  Parsoe  fire- wor- 
shipper might  have  been  seen,  generation  after  generation, 
going  out  in  his  white  robes  at  sunrise  or  sunset,  from 
his  counting-room  in  the  seaports  of  China  and  other  coun- 
tries foreign  to  him  as  to  us,  in  order  to  worship  the  Deity 
as  represented  by  the  sun.  The  traveler  might  have  had 
there  the  opportunity  to  observe  that  one  of  those  enter- 
prising merchants,  instead  of  taking  out  a  policy  of  insur- 
ance, as  he  is  solicited  by  our  people  to  do  when  he  sends 


DEFECTS  OF  THE  REFORMATION.      73 

forth  a  vessel,  or  consignment  of  goods,  prays  instead  to  the 
divine  source  of  life  and  good  for  his  favor  and  blessing,  and 
piously  goes  out  into  the  public  streets  and  squares  of  the 
city  and  distributes  a  quantity  of  copper  money,  in  charity, 
to  the  poor,  the  blind  and  lepers.  Through  all  the  Middle 
Ages  Romanism  sent  forth  in  the  footsteps  of  its  merchants 
devoted  men  and  women  to  convert  heathen  nations.* 
Wherever  its  commerce  has  gone  since  the  Reformation,  it 
has  planted  large  and  well-appointed  missions.  They  exist 
in  every  continent.  Vessels  like  the  "Stella  del  Mar" — • 
the  Star  of  the  Sea — long  preceded  the  English  ship  Duff, 
or  American  "Morning  Star,"  as  missionary  ships  amidst 
the  islands  of  the  Pacific.  But  it  is  astonishing  and  dread- 
ful to  see  how  godless,  how  licentious,  how  covetous,  how 

*■  The  pious  spirit  of  mucli  of  that  mediaeval  commerce  is  beauti- 
fully illustrated  in  the  narratives  of  those  memorable  voyages  which 
brought  to  light  this  new  hemisphere.  Every  one  who  has  read 
them  remembers  how,  in  setting  sail,  Columbus  and  his  officers 
solemnly  invoked  the  protection  of  God;  how  he  commenced  his 
journal  of  the  first  voyage  "in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ," 
and  at  his  first  step  upon  the  newly  discovered  land,  "threw  him- 
self on  his  knees,  kissed  the  earth,  and  returned  thanks  to  God  with 
tears  of  joy."  He  called  the  island  by  the  name  of  the  Saviour 
(San  Salvador).  On  his  return,  the  court  of  Spain  joined  in  offer- 
ing up  a  devout  and  grateful  tribute  of  praise,  "giving  glory  to  God 
for  the  discovery  of  another  world."  Columbus,  in  the  confident 
expectation  of  great  riches,  "made  a  vow  to  furnish  within  seven 
years  an  army,  consisting  of  four  thousand  horse  and  fifty  thousand 
men,  for  the  rescue  of  the  holy  sepulchre  at  Jerusalem,  and  a  sim- 
ilar force  within  the  five  following  years."  Irving  ;  Life  of  Colum- 
bus, books  IV.  and  V. 


74       god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

unmerciful,   Protestant  commerce  has    almost  universally 
been. 

It  is  one  of  the  terrible  facts  of  history  that  Britain  and 
America  maintained  commercial  intercourse  with  some  of 
the  principal  heathen  empires  of  the  world  for  two  or  three 
hundreds  of  years,  but  made  scarcely  an  effort  to  instruct 
those  from  whom  we  were  drawing  vast  wealth  and  earthly 
benefits,  in  regard  to  their  duties  to  their  Crejlior,  and  the  way 
of  pardon  for  sin  and  life  eternal  through  Jesus  Christ. 

Illustrations  in  Eastern  Asia. 
That  truly  great  and  humane  statesman,  Edmund  Burke, 
in  1783  described  the  character  of  the  British  East  India 
Company's  government  in  India  until  his  day.  He  said  of 
its  servants:  *  "They  have  no  more  social  habits  with  the 
people,  than  if  they  still  resided  in  England  ;  nor  indeed  any 
species  of  intercourse  but  that  which  is  necessary  to  making 
a  sudden  fortune,  with  a  view  to  a  remote  settlement. 
Animated  with  all  the  avarice  of  age,  and  all  the  impet- 
uosity of  youth,  they  roll  in  one  after  another ;  wave  after 
wave.  There  is  nothing  before  the  eyes  of  the  natives  but 
an  endless,  hopeless  prospect  of  new  flights  of  birds  of  prey 
and  passage,  with  appetites  continually  renewing  for  a 
food  that  is  continually  wasting.  England  has  erected  no 
churches,  no  hospitals,  no  palaces,  no  schools  ;  England  has 
built  no  bridges,  made  no  high  roads,  cut  no  navigations, 
dug  out  no  reservoirs.  Eveiy  other  conqueror  of  every 
other  description  has  left  some  monument,  either  of  state  or 
beneficence,  behind  him.  Were  we  to  be  driven  out  of 
*  Speech  on  Mr.  Fox's  East  India  BilL 


DEFECTS  OF  THE  EEFORMATION.      75 

India  this  day,  notbing  would  remain  to  tell  that  it  had 
been  possessed,  during  the  inglorious  period  of  our  domin- 
ion, by  anything  better  than  the  orang-outang  or  the  tiger. ' ' 
In  opening  the  impeachment  of  the  Governor  G-eneral, 
Warren  Hastings,  he  said:  "The  whole  of  the  crimes 
charged  upon  Mr.  Hastings  have  their  root  and  origin  in 
avarice  and  rapacity.  .  .  .  His  very  merits  are  nothing  but 
merits  of  money ;  money  got  by  oppression,  money  got 
by  extortion,  money  got  by  violence,  from  the  poor  or 
from  the  rich.  There  is  breach  of  faith,  cruelty,  perfidy ; 
yet  the  great  ruling  principle  of  the  whole  is  money.  His 
acts  are  acts,  and  his  government  a  government,  of  money. 
It  is  base  avarice,  which  never  can  look,  by  any  prejudice 
of  mankind,  anything  like  virtue.  ...  In  short,  money  is 
the  beginning,  money  is  the  middle,  and  money  is  the  end 
of  his  government. ' ' 

In  India  Britain  has  been  compelled  by  a  just  and  merci- 
ful Grod,  through  the  rebellions  which  would  otherwise  have 
overturned  her  valuable  empire  there,  as  well  as  by  the 
spiritually  awakened  conscience  of  later  days,  to  establish 
equitable  laws,  the  beginnings  of  educational  and  humane 
institutions,  and  Christian  missions.  But  to  this  day  there 
continue  some  of  the  greatest  abuses,  by  which  she  annu- 
ally reaps  scores  of  millions  of  pounds  sterling  from  the  la- 
bors and  sufferings  of  the  nations  which  she  has  compelled 
to  yield  to  them  at  the  mouth  of  the  cannon.  One  of  these 
is  the  opium  trade.  Opium  is  raised  by  the  British  govern- 
ment in  India  that  it  may  be  exported  to  China,  to  pay  there 
for  teas  and  silks,  which  could  otherwise  only  be  obtained 
for  specie.    To  legalize  this  diabolical  traffic,  so  ruinous  to 


76       god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

China,  she  made  almost  continual  war  upon  that  empire  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century. 

To  make  these  general  statements  creates  no  distinct  im- 
pression upon  the  mind  of  the  reader.  They  must  be 
studied  in  their  details,  and  influences,  and  consequences. 
For  this  we  have  little  space  here.  Yet  it  is  important  to 
our  present  object  to  consider  for  a  moment  one  of  the 
strangest,  saddest  scenes  which  our  world  has  ever  witnessed. 
It  occurred  upon  a  Chinese  war-junk.  A  "Christian" 
nation  was  deluging  the  coasts  of  that  heathen  empire  with 
blood,  and  blackening  them  with  the  burned  ruins  of  its 
own  cities,  because  the  aged  and  humane  emperor  would  not 
consent  to  the  introduction  of  "the  opium  poison"  among 
his  subjects.  After  a  battle  near  Canton,  a  party  of  English 
sailors,  who  boarded  a  war-junk  from  which  all  had  fled 
save  the  wounded  and  the  dead,  beheld  the  commander,  a 
brave  and  intelligent  man,  who  was  much  esteemed  by  his 
own  people,  seated  lifeless  by  the  cabin  table.  His  fresh 
blood  was  streaming  over  his  Buddhist  rosary  and  down  his 
richly  embroidered  blue  satin  robe.  Before  his  glazed  eyes 
there  was  spread  out  an  open  Chinese  book.  The  assailants 
looked  with  wonder  to  ascertain  what  it  was.  It  was  a  mis- 
sionary translation  of  the  Grospel  of  John.  The  unhappy 
man  had  been  searching  for  information  as  to  the  secret  of 
the  terrible  energy  and  success  of  the  cruel  and  wicked  race 
with  whom  he  was  vainly  contending.  He  had  found  some 
of  their  books  which  were  translated  into  his  own  tongue. 
And  there  he  sat,  murdered  by  them,  his  perplexed  eyes 
fixed  upon  the  Gospel  of  John ! 

How  strange  and  dreadful  a  spectacle !    For  many  centu- 


DEFECTS   OF  THE   REFOEMATION.  77 

ries  Christian  nations  had  been  trading  and  sending  em- 
bassies of  state  to  China ;  but  then  for  the  first  time  it  is 
that  milHons  upon  milhons  begin  to  find  that  they  possess 
any  religion,  or  behef  in  a  state  of  rewards  and  punish- 
ments, or  sacred  books.  Since,  before  our  great  Reformation, 
ships  had  gone  there  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  and  they 
had  yet  only  known  us  in  their  common  language  as 
"devils,"  "pirates,"  and  "monsters."  At  that  particular 
time  to  which  I  have  alluded  Christians  were  smuggling  by 
violence  into  their  country  the  astounding  amount  of  thirty 
millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  opium  each  year ;  and  spending 
a  few  thousands  of  dollars  at  Canton,  and  a  few  tens  of 
thousands  at  ports  outside  of  the  Chinese  dominions,  in  giv- 
ing to  the  Chinese  people  the  gospel.  There  were  three  men 
at  Canton  and  twenty-five  elsewhere  engaged  in  teaching 
them  the  mercy  of  God ;  while  a  great  and  powerful  fleet  of 
vessels  of  war  and  many  merchant  vessels,  were  inflicting  the 
cruelty,  the  lust,  and  the  wrath  of  man.  Some  things  in  the 
scheme  of  redemption  ' '  the  angels  desire  to  look  into ; ' '  but 
if  there  be  ever  tears  in  angelic  eyes  it  must  be  when  they 
look  upon  such  a  scene  as  that  of  the  cabin  in  which  a  crowd 
of  men  from  a  Christian  nation  stood  astonished  at  those  out- 
spread hands,  cold  in  death,  grasping  helplessly  the  Gospel 
of  John ;  and  at  the  stony  eyeballs,  blinded  in  death  by  our 
weapons  of  destruction  while  they  pondered  the  mysterious 
words :  "  Peace  I  leave  with  you,  my  peace  I  give  unto  you. 
Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be  afraid."* 

This  was  truly  a  representative  scene.     The  bewildered, 
slaughtered  "heathen,"  and  the  powerful  invading  "Chris- 

*■  John  xiv.  27. 


78 

tians;"  the  few  pennies  to  give  the  gospel,  the  millions  of 
pounds  to  carry  on  war ;  a  few  scattered  individuals  engaged 
in  preaching,  teaching  the  youth,  and  healing  the  sick,  but 
grand  fleets  and  armaments  and  armies  to  spread  rapine  and 
death,  to  compel  the  admission  of  opium,  or  rum,  or  cor- 
ruption in  even  worse  forms,  and  to  make  the  name  of 
Christ  abhorred  by  the  gentiles.  This  is  a  picture  which  is 
representative  of  our  relations  in  America  to  the  Indian  and 
the  negro ;  of  those  of  England  in  her  influence  in  India 
and  China,  and  CafFraria  and  Australia ;  of  those  of  Holland 
in  the  great  islands  of  the  East  Indies.  It  is  continually,  over 
and  over  again  in  a  thousand  fields,  the  scene  of  the  mur- 
dered mandarin  with  the  Gospel  of  John. 

Question  of  the  Balance  of  Good  or  Evil. 

We  close  this  review  of  the  era  of  Christianity  which 
commenced  with  the  Reformation  of  three  centuries  ago  by 
observing  that,  great  as  have  been  many  of  its*  benefits  to 
the  Church  of  Christ  and  to  mankind,  its  defects,  as  repre- 
sented in  the  influence  of  the  nations  which  have  accepted 
it  upon  the  world,  have  been  lamentably  great;  and  the 
results  until  the  present  time  have  in  some  respects  been  so 
tremendously  disastrous,  that  the  external  influence  of  our 
intercourse  with  the  chief  heathen  nations  of  the  world  has 
done  them  fully  as  much  of  injury  as  of  good. 

We  saw  the  failures  of  Christianity  in  its  preceding  stages. 
Now,  in  its  turn,  Protestantism  has  not  accomplished  the 
grand  designs  of  the  gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The 
Eternal  Son  of  God  came  into  the  world  to  make  himself  an 
ofiering  for  sin,  to  bear  our  griefs,  to  heal  all  human  woes ; 


DEFECTS   OF  THE  REFORMATION.  79 

yet  he  cries,  speaking  prophetically  of  the  Church  until  our 
time:  "I  have  labored  in  vain,  I  have  spent  my  strength 
for  nought  and  in  vain."*  When  we  take  a  comprehensive 
survey  of  the  condition  of  the  thirteen  hundred  millions  of 
mankind  in  the  habitable  parts  of  the  globe,  and  allow  the 
utmost  probable  estimate  of  the  very  small  number  amidst 
all  its  races  and  nations  who  possess,  and  spiritually  under- 
stand and  obey,  the  word  of  God,  we  must  confess  that  now, 
eighteen  centuries  after  the  agony  of  Grethsemane  and  the 
blood  of  Calvary,  Sin  still  reigns,  moral  Death  reigns,  the 
powers  of  Hell  reign,  in  all  the  earth. 

And  yet  Protestantism  has  not  been  a  "failure,"  as  some 
have  boldly  declared.  It  has  been  a  long  and  cold  and 
stormy  spring-time.  The  green  blades  have  put  forth  only 
here  and  there  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  in  sheltered 
spots.  But  there  is  a  great  harvest  near.  These  three 
grand  centuries  have  been  an  era  of  all-important  prepara- 
tion, discipline,  and  organization;  the  ends  of  which,  in 
their  financial  aspects  at  least,  the  Church  is  just  beginning 
to  conceive. 

*  Isaiah,  chaps,  xlix.  to  liv. 


PART  II. 

THE  DIVINE  RULE  FOR  THE  CHRISTIAN  USE 
OF  MONEY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  NECESSITY  FOR  A  DIVINE  RULE  FOR 
CHRISTIAN  GIVING. 

THE  solemn  question  often  comes  up  in  the  secret  thoughts 
of  every  genuine  Christi.an,  at  times  appalling  and  terri- 
fjang  him  with  the  additional  consideration  that  he  must  an- 
swer it  publicly  in  the  Judgment  Day :  Why  is  the  religion 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  so  unsuccessful  in  converting  man- 
kind? His  reasoning  will  follow  some  such  channel  as  this  : 
"I  see  not  the  one-twentieth  part  of  our  race  accepting  that 
simple  gospel  which  at  the  beginning  seemed  about  to  pos- 
sess the  globe,  and  but  a  small  portion  of  these  becoming 
truly  spiritual  Christians.  After  coming  triumphant  out  of 
persecutions,  intended  to  exterminate  it  in  fire  and  blood,  I 
find  it  betrays  Christ  to  the  world  for  its  lucre ;  then  that  it 
rises  superior  to  the  world,  not  to  instruct  and  purify  it,  but 
to  enslave  it,  to  plunder  it,  and  to  glut  itself  with  sensual 
80 


THE   NECESSITY   FOR  A   DIVINE   RULE.        81 

gratifications.  I  see  it  granted,  since  the  Reformation,  a 
great  revival  of  spirituality  of  doctrine ;  and  a  wondrous 
wealth  of  knowledge,  and  of  all  that  constitutes  secular 
power,  poured  upon  the  churches  of  Western  Europe  and 
America :  and  yet,  since  this  apparent  resurrection,  three 
centuries  and  a  half  more  have  passed  away  without  that 
Christianity  having  extended  its  dominion  much  beyond  the 
races  which  at  that  time  accepted  it.  What  is  the  defect, 
that  the  mighty  gospel  does  not  sweep  like  a  great  wind, 
from  pole  to  pole?  It  cannot  be  in  the  power  of  God, 
which  is  infinite.  It  cannot  be  in  the  willingness  of  God, 
who  sent  his  Son  to  die  for  sinners,  and  who  is  not  willing 
that  any  should  perish,  nor,  much  more,  that  whole  nations 
should  go  together  to  eternal  destruction.  Then  it  must  be 
in  man.  If  in  us,  it  must  be  either  in  the  want  of  be- 
lieving prayer,  or  of  consecrated  men,  or  of  sufficient  pecu- 
niary means.  I  can  scarcely  say  that  the  defect  is  in  the 
amount  or  themes  of  prayer,  since  God  has  so  inspired  the 
language  of  Scripture  that  we  can  hardly  use  its  words  and 
sentiments  at  all  in  prayer  without  asking  for  the  extension 
of  his  kingdom,  and  power,  and  glory  on  earth.  As  to  the 
spirit  of  prayer,  that  will  be  regulated  largely  by  our  labors 
for  its  ends.  So  I  am  bound  down  to  the  conclusion,  that 
the  great  hindrance  to  the  salvation  of  the  world  is  chiefly 
in  the  want  of  the  personal  consecration  of  Christians  to 
that  end ;  that  men  and  women  who  can  give  life  do  not 
give  their  life  ;  that  men  and  women  who  cannot  give  life, 
but  can  give  money,  do  not  give  money.  There  must,  then, 
be  far  more  laborers  to  go  forth,  and  those  who  stay  must  feel 
that  their  part  is  to  give  to  them  the  means  to  prosecute 
6 


their  heavenly  work.  Otherwise  the  talk  of  converting  the 
world  is  mere  trifling  with  the  souls  of  men,  and  a  mockery 
of  God." 

Shown  by  the  Chief  End  for  which  God  siade 
THE  Precious  Metals. 

It  was  shown  in  a  former  chapter  that  the  precious 
metals,  especially  in  their  adaptation  for  use  as  money,  are 
a  most  important  part  of  the  material  creation,  and  among 
the  most  honorable  and  valuable  of  the  Divine  gifts  to  man- 
kind. Let  us  consider  now  the  chief  and  most  important 
end  for  which  they  are  to  be  used. 

"The  heaven  is  my  throne,  and  the  earth  is  my  foot- 
stool." "  For  all  those  things  hath  mine  hand  made,  saith 
the  Lord."  The  chief  end  of  all  beings  and  things  that  he 
has  made  is  to  show  forth  his  glory ;  to  be  "  for  a  name,  and 
for  a  praise,  and  for  a  glory."  *  This  is  the  great  end  for 
which  he  made  gold  and  silver,  or  what  men  may  agree  to 
accept  as  pecuniary  equivalents  redeemable  in  them.  They 
are  appointed  first  for  royal  tribute  to  him.  They  are  the 
general  medium  for  the  exchange  of  the  products  of  man's 
labor,  to  his  glory.  They  are  the  representatives  of  the 
materials  necessary  for  the  sustenance  of  life  in  his  service, 
and  for  the  maintenance  of  the  war  against  evil  in  which 
Christians  are  engaged.  His  Church  needs  money ;  for  to 
say  this  is  merely  another  form  of  saying  that  ships,  cars  on 
railroads  and  other  vehicles,  are  necessary  to  transport  the 
bodies  of  the  soldiers  of  Christ,  food  necessary  to  nourish 
them,   clothing  and    houses  necessary  for  their  physical 

*  Jer.  xiii.  11.     Isa.  Ixvi.  12. 


THE  NECESSITY   FOR   A   DIYTNE   RULE.       83 

health  and  comfort,  church  and  school  buildings  necessary 
for  converts,  books  necessary  to  convey  truth,  medicine 
necessary  to  heal  the  sick,  and  that  the  all-wise  God  has  so 
organized  man  and  society  that  while  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
great  source  of  power  in  all  good,  man  must  do  his  part, 
must  co-operate  through  earthly  materials ;  and  if  this  be 
not  done,  the  whole  machineiy  of  grace  must  stand  still. 
Money  is  the  social  instrumentality  by  which  all  these 
materials  are  procured;  by  which  alone  the  varieties  of 
human  labor  necessary  to  furnish  them  can  be  put  in  opera- 
tion. The  very  existence  here  of  those  wholly  engaged  in 
the  service  of  the  Church  depends  upon  the  possession  of  the 
ordinary  means  of  supporting  it.  They  are  not  superhuman. 
They  are  men,  with  the  wants  of  men.  And  while  they  are 
so,  there  is  no  means  by  which  they  can  obtain  the  necessa- 
ries of  life,  comfort,  or  enjoyment,  for  themselves  and  their 
families,  without  giving  a  common  and  acceptable  equivalent 
for  the  labor  which  others  have  spent  in  producing  or  pro- 
viding them ;  that  is,  money.  If  then  the  God  of  nature 
has  made  the  precious  metals,  which  are  so  important  a  de- 
partment of  nature,  for  his  glory,  their  use  should  be  made 
truly  and  greatly  to  glorify  him.  He  should  be  honored  by 
a  system  of  giving,  just  as  he  is  by  regularity  in  almost  all 
else  that  pertains  to  his  worship  and  service.  It  cannot  be 
expected  that  he  can  be  pleased  with  fitfulness  or  careless- 
ness, or  bless  what  is  given  to  him  in  this  way  any  more 
than  he  can  bless  these  habits  in  the  farmer  who  tills  the 
soil,  or  the  laborer  in  any  ordinary  calling. 


84 


pRESUJklPTION    THAT    THE     OMNISCIENT     HeAD     OF     THE 

Church  would  Reveal  a  Pecuniary  System  for 
ITS  Maintenance. 

It  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  Grod's  wise  and  gracious 
methods  in  governing  the  world  for  us  to  expect  that  he 
would  reveal  in  the  Scriptures  a  system  for  contributions  of 
money,  from  all  his  people,  for  the  grand  objects  of  the 
Church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  If  Grod  so  organized  his 
Church  on  earth  that  the  conversion  of  the  world  is  to  be 
accomplished,  not  by  visible  or  audible  displays  of  his  di- 
vine majesty  and  power,  and  justice  and  mercy  ;  nor — what, 
if  it  had  been  left  to  us  to  plan,  we  would  have  judged 
necessary — by  the  continuous  agency  of  orders  of  beings  far 
superior  to  us  in  love,  knowledge,  holiness,  and  strength ; 
but  so  that  man  must  be  the  instrument  of  saving  man,  and 
his  ministers  and  servants  be  as  subject  as  are  their  fellow 
men  to  all  the  necessities  of  their  earthly  nature;  then 
•would  he  leave  this  kingdom  without  some  sufficient  ar- 
rangement as  to  the  means  of  supplying  the  wants  of  those 
ministers  and  servants  ?  Would  he,  whose  government  of 
nature  here,  and  its  counterpart  in  the  material  heavens,  is 
so  wonderfully  perfect,  not  reveal  to  his  Church  some 
method  according  to  which  his  subjects  should  furnish 
the  means  needful  to  carry  on  the  great  warfare  of  the 
kingdom  of  his  Son  against  sin  ?  It  would  surely  be  an 
anomaly  in  God's  government  were  this  not  the  case.  It  is 
incredible  that  a  Being  who  saw  the  end  from  the  beginning, 
and  foreknew  the  world-wide  wants  of  the  Church  in  the 
New  Dispensation,  which  displays  '"  to  the  principalities  and 


THE  NECESSITY  FOR   A    DIVINE   RULE.        85 

powers  in  heavenly  places  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God," 
would  not  make  some  earthly  arrangements  to  meet  those 
wants.  It  would  throw  discredit  on  the  authority  which 
calls  some  of  our  race  to  special  and  official  service,  and 
lays  them  under  the  stress  of  obedience  to  his  commands, 
did  not  God  lay  upon  other  members  of  it  the  burthen  of 
some  definite  ordinance  as  to  the  share  they  should  bear  in 
the  common  duty.  And  in  the  plan  of  revelation,  which 
shuts  out  all  such  topics  of  communication  from  heaven  as 
are  irrelevant  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  but  which  is  so 
very  clear  and  full  in  regard  to  it,  it  would  surely  be  a 
signal  and  lamentable  defect  were  this  vital  point  of  human 
agency  left  without  the  light  which  men  there  so  much 
need.  So  that  look  at  what  attribute  of  God  we  will,  or  at 
the  wants  and  instrumentalities  of  his  kingdom,  or  at  the 
designs  of  his  word,  we  are  forced  to  expect  that  he  would 
reveal  some  general  system  in  regard  to  the  consecration  and 
employment  of  our  money. 

The  Spirit  of  the  Old  Testament  proves  the 
Need  of  such  a  System. 

The  spirit  of  the  Old  Testament  revelations  confirms  the 
presumptions  drawn  from  the  attributes,  works  and  manifest 
general  purposes  of  God.  If  any  man  out  of  a  sincere  de- 
sire to  learn  and  to  do  his  duty  will  consider  it,  he  will  see 
that  certain  spiritual  and  everlasting  principles  underlie  what 
is  ceremonial,  typical  and  temporary,  in  the  law  of  Moses. 
When  he  dispossesses  his  mind  of  all  previous  misconcep- 
tions in  regard  to  the  spirit  of  the  Old  Testament,  and 
studies  it  critically  and  thoroughly,  this  we  conceive  must  be 


86       god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

tlie  prevailing  impression  lie  receives :  tliat  God  designed  by 
it  to  teach  that  religion  is  a  business,  the  great  business  of  a 
human  being  ;  that  the  ordinary  employments  of  men  must 
be  all  made  subordinate  to  their  spiritual  interests ;  and  that 
a  liberal  share  of  the  pecuniary  proceeds  of  those  employments 
must  be  devoted  hi/  a  regular  method  to  the  maintenance 
of  his  service.  The  particularity  of  the  laws  with  regard  to 
tithes,  first-fruits,  oblations,  sacrifices,  the  exact  numbers 
and  kinds  of  the  various  animals  to  be  ofi'ered,  the  precise 
quantities  of  the  flour,  oil  and  wine,  the  necessity  and  fixed 
rates  of  redemption  and  forfeit,  and  the  careful  designation 
of  the  times  for  the  performance  of  public  religious  duties, 
all  seem  designed  to  teach  that,  just  as  in  the  appointments 
which  prefigured  the  ministry  and  sufferings  of  the  Saviour 
for  men  lie  ' '  fulfilled  all  righteousness, "  *  so  on  the  part  of 
those  who  are  saved  there  must  be  complete  and  universal 
consecration  of  themselves  and  their  possessions  to  God, 
and  regular  and  devoted  employment  of  every  kind  of 
agency  at  their  command  to  the  great  ends  of  Christ's  mis- 
sion to  a  lost  world. 

The  Teaching  and  Gospel  of  Christ  Based  upon 
AN  Implied  System. 

We  turn  for  further  light  to  the  personal  instructions  of 
the  Great  Teacher,  who  came  down  from  heaven,  and  has 
made  known  to  us  the  things  which  he  heard  of  the  Father. f 
Three  features  of  Christ's  teaching  seem  to  us  most  prom- 
inent :  that  he  makes  the  power  and  joy  of  religion  to  lie  so 
greatly  in  personal  love  to  himself;  that  so  large  a  share  of 

•*Matt.  iii.  15.  f  Jolin  iii.  and  xv. 


THE   NECESSITY   FOR   A   DIVINE   RULE.        87 

his  instructions  have  reference  to  duties — the  sermon  on  the 
mount  and  other  formal  discourses  being  chiefly  of  this  cha- 
racter; and  that  he  rates  so  high  the  measure  of  results 
expected  of  us.  His  favorite  illustration  is  taken  from  the 
productiveness  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  which  in  the  case 
of  good  seed  regularly  multiply  themselves,  some  an  hun- 
dred-fold, some  sixty-fold,  some  thirty-fold.  There  must 
evidently  be  inferred  from  such  lessons  an  immensely 
greater  consecration  of  the  resources  of  believers,  and  a 
corresponding  multiplication  of  the  agencies  of  evangeliza- 
tion, before  such  measures  of  increase  can  be  attained.  The 
Lord  Jesus  saw  that  the  principal  stumbling  block  to  the 
spread  of  his  gospel  was  covetousness.  He  warned  his 
disciples  to  beware  of  covetousness ;  classed  covetousness, 
as  a  sin,  with  adultery  and  murder,  and  exclaimed,  "  What 
shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world  and 
lose  his  own  soul?"  His  instructions  as  to  the  use  of 
money,  so  far  as  the  idea  of  a  formal  element  entered  into 
them,  were  based  upon,  and  calculated  to  perpetuate,  at 
least  the  radical  principles  of  the  Old  Testament  in  regard  to 
systematic  contributions  for  religious  purposes.  The  para- 
bles of  the  ten  talents,  the  five  talents,  the  lord  of  the  vine- 
yard to  whom  the  fruits  are  denied,  the  unjust  steward  who 
deducts  from  the  account  of  one  debtor  five-tenths  and  from 
that  of  another  two-tenths,  of  the  Pharisee  who  trusted  in 
the  merit  of  his  tithes  and  despised  others,  and  many  other 
such  lessons,  exhibit  this  character.  And,  while  Jesus 
warns  his  disciples  against  the  danger  of  self-righteousness 
in  giving  money  according  to  a  regular  system,  just  as  he 
does  in  regard  to  that  in  connection  with  prayer,  or  fasting, 


88       god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

there  is  not  a  word  to  intimate  that  the  act  itself  was  other- 
wise than  commendable  and  a  duty,  when  performed  from 
the  right  motives.  His  warnings  are  all  in  the  opposite  di- 
rection. He  says :  "Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the 
law,  or  the  prophets :  I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  ful- 
fill." "  For  I  say  unto  you,  That  except  your  righteousness 
shall  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."* 
These  words  teach  that  it  will  be  a  fearful  thing  in  the 
judgment  for  the  multitude  of  nominal  Christians  who  do 
so  much  less,  and  give  so  much  less,  than  did  the  Jews, 
though  they  profess  to  be  governed  by  a  higher  law. 

We  are  met  here  with  the  declaration  of  Paul :  "  Ye  are 
not  under  the  law,  but  under  grace."!  Now,  what  does  this 
mean  ?  If  a  Christian  step  from  a  height,  because  he  is  a 
Christian  will  he  not  break  his  neck  ? — if  he  put  his  hand 
in  the  fire,  will  it  not  be  burned? — if  he  sink  in  the  sea,  will 
he  not  be  drowned? — then  he  is  certainly  under  the  laws 
of  nature.  If  a  Christian  rob,  or  commit  murder,  will  he 
not  be  punished? — then  he  is  also  as  certainly  under  the 
moral  law,  both  to  God  and  to  man.  How  is  he  then  "  not 
under  the  law?"  He  is  simply  not  under  it  as  a  principle, 
or  motive,  of  obedience.  That  is,  he  is  governed  by  a  new 
principle,  which  is  not  fear,  but  love;  not  the  terrors  of 
Sinai,  but  the  melting  power  of  Calvarj^  As  Paul  ex- 
plains, he  is  a  man  who  dies  as  to  the  old  nature,  and  lives 
again  in  a  new  and  higher  one;  the  principle  of  life,  the 
inward  law,  is  a  new  one.  Or,  he  is  like  a  woman  whose 
former  husband  is  dead,  and  she  married  to  another ;  the 
*  Matt.  V.  15-20.  t  l^om.  vi.  14. 


THE   NECESSITY   FOR   A   DIVINE   RULE.        89 

submission  is  the  same  though  the  law  is  a  different  one. 
In  each  case  the  essence  of  law,  service,  and  also  recompense 
or  punishment,  inheres."  Now  the  "love  of  Christ  con- 
strains," impels  and  controls  him ;  but  surely  not  to  less  ac- 
tivity and  consecration  than  did  the  old  law.  The  "  Chris- 
tian" cannot  labor  less  for  Grod,  or  give  less  to  his  cause, 
than  did  the  Jew. 

Every  point  of  comparison  between  the  necessities  and 
aspirations  of  Christianity  and  those  of  Judaism  puts  to 
shame  the  thought  that "  Christians  "  can  fail  here.  Chris- 
tianity has  far  greater  wants  than  Judaism — the  wants  of 
an  advanced  and  more  cultivated  age  of  the  world ;  the 
wants  of  an  incomparably  more  varied  machinery ;  the 
wants  of  a  vigorous  resistance  to  far  more  numerous,  ac- 
tive, and  skillful  enemies  ;  the  wants  of  immensely  greater 
populations,  and  more  debased,  in  Christian  lands ;  the 
wants  of  a  whole  world  which  is  to  be  speedily  conquered 
for  Immanuel.  Grod  has  given  in  the  New  Testament  a 
spiritual  and  sufficient  ordinance  adapted  to  these  great 
ends.  And  the  low,  unsuccessful,  humiliated  condition  of 
that  kingdom  on  the  earth,  its  woeful  failure  after  eighteen 
hundred  years  to  conquer  more  than  a  few  limited  districts 
of  "the  world,"  "a^Z"  of  which  should,  according  to  the 
last  command  of  Christ,  now  be  subject  to  it,  lies,  so  far 
as  human  duty  is  related  to  it,  largely  in  the  mistakes  and 
neglect  of  the  Church  as  to  the  obedience  which  she  owes  to 
the  fundamental  law  as  to  the  contributions  and  co-opera- 
tion of  "every  one." 

*■  Rom.  vii. 


90       god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

Great  Necessities  of  the  Present  Era,  like  those 
OF  the  Era  of  Christ,  ihanifested  in  the  Decay 
OF  False  Keligions. 

The  present  condition  of  the  world  is  in  many  remarkable 
respects  similar  to  what  existed  when  Christianity  began  its 
course.  One  of  the  most  striking  points  of  resemblance  is 
found  in  the  ruinous  and  falhng  condition  of  the  great  false 
systems  which  have  been  the  dungeons  of  the  human  in- 
tellect and  heart.  The  whole  world  manifestly  feels  again  to 
its  centre,  and  in  its  entire  frame,  the  omnipotent  influence 
which  moved  it  in  that  age 

"Wherein  the  Prince  of  light 
His  reign  of  peace  upon  the  earth  began." 

The  superstitions  of  Paganism,  of  Mohammedanism,  and 
also  of  the  Roman,  Greek,  Armenian,  Abyssinian  and  other 
corrupted  forms  of  the  Church,  are  all  kindred  of  the  same 
blood  not  far  removed.  The  idols,  and  temples  and  utensils, 
of  all  of  them  are  decayed  ;  their  priesthoods  are  anxiously 
looking  forth  to  discover  the  meaning  of  the  signs  which  in- 
dicate that  their  power  over  the  minds  of  men  is  gone,  and 
that  a  new  spirit  is  breathed  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  the 
precursor  of  the  approaching  sunrise.* 

*  We  might  adopt  again,  as  most  truthfully  and  fully  appropriate 
to  every  one  of  these  systems,  the  pictures  of  Milton's  grand  Christ- 
mas Hymn. 

"  The  oracles  are  dumb. 
No  voice  or  hideous  hum, 
Runs  through  the  arched  roof  in  words  deceiving ; 


THE   NECESSITY   FOR   A   DIVINE  RULE.        91 

There  is  a  particular  "mystery  of  iniquity"  whose  head 
*'  as  God  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing  himself  that 
he  is  God,"  and  who  now  "letteth,  until  he  be  taken  out 
of  the  way."'^  What  is  its  condition?  The  screeching 
locomotives  of  the  depot  of  the  railway,  which  Gregory  XVI. 
in  vain  tried  to  shut  out  of  Rome,  confuse  the  quiet  of  a 
Carthusian  monastery  and  the  masses  in  a  church  beautified 
by  Michel  Angelo.    The  smoke  of  the  gas-works,  which 

Apollo  from  his  shrine, 

Can  no  more  divine, 
With  hollow  shriek  the  steep  of  Delphos  leaving; 
No  nightly  trance,  or  breathed  spell, 
Inspires  the  pale-eyed  priests  from  the  prophetic  cell. 

"  The  lonely  mountains  o'er, 
And  the  resounding  shore, 
A  voice  of  weeping  heard,  and  loud  lament ; 
From  haunted  spring  and  dale, 
Edged  with  poplar  pale. 
The  parting  genius  is  with  sighing  sent; 
With  flower-inwoven  tresses  torn. 
The  nymphs  in  twilight  shade  of  tangled  thickets  mourn. 

"  In  consecrated  earth. 
And  on  the  holy  hearth. 
The  lares,  and  lemures,  moan  with  midnight  plaint; 
In  urns,  and  altars  round, 
A  drear  and  dying  sound, 
Affrights  the  flamens  at  their  service  quaint ; 
And  the  chill  marble  seems  to  sweat. 
While  each  peculiar  Power  foregoes  his  wonted  seat." 

*2  Thess.  ii.  3-11. 


92       god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

now  furnisli  good  modern  light  to  the  city,  is  blown  by  a 
west  wind  right  across  the  remains  of  the  palaces  of  the 
Caesars  and  of  the  Coliseum,  around  which  hang  so  many 
pagan  and  papal  legends.  Comic  newspapers,  filled  with 
ridiculous  pictures  and  stories  of  the  pope  and  priesthood, 
are  for  sale  everywhere  in  the  streets.  And,  best  of  all,  the 
pope  can  look  down  from  the  high  windows  of  the  Vatican 
upon  houses  in  which  those  Scriptures  in  the  common  tongue 
are  sold,  and  those  Protestant  schools  taught,  which  are 
surely  and  rapidly  undermining  the  foundations  of  all  his 
power,  and  will  level  it  with  the  dust.  Nor  can  it  be  long, 
if  rated  by  the  progress  of  the  last  few  years,  until  the  con- 
clusive changes  come.  The  armies  of  the  truth  then  should 
be  fully  prepared  with  the  financial  means  instantly  to  spread 
the  truth  amidst  all  the  disorganized  dominions  of  error, 
and  to  make  known  to  them  the  gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  This  necessitates  the  adoption  of  a  competent  sys- 
tem, that  which  Grod  has  provided,  in  order  to  furnish  those 


Insufficiency  of  the  American  Voluntary  System. 

The  almost  universal  sentiment  of  Christians  in  America 
is,  that  the  past  impulsive,  unregulated  and  partial  means 
of  collecting  money  for  ecclesiastical  purposes  is  inadequate 
to  meet  the  immensely  greater  demands  which  the  necessi- 
ties of  our  land  and  the  evangelization  of  the  world  are  lay- 
ing upon  us.  And  these  are  necessities  which,  instead  of 
diminishing,  are  every  year  becoming  greater,  and  thus  ren- 
dering our  present  condition  more  painful  and  hopeless. 

The  European  nations  have  watched  and  studied  our  ex- 


THE  NECESSITY   FOR  A   DIVINE   RULE.        93 

periment,  but  have  only  seen  reason  to  follow  in  our  foot- 
steps so  far  as  they  were  necessarily  compelled  to  do  it.  It 
might  have  been  supposed  that  the  natural  sympathies  of 
the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  with  the  Presbyterian  Church 
of  this  country,  when  it  realized  the  impossibility  of  unit- 
ing temporal  maintenance  by  the  State  with  -spiritual  inde- 
pendence of  the  State,  and  separated  from  the  Establish- 
ment, would  have  led  it  to  adopt  our  Voluntaryism.  But  its 
leaders  in  the  most  emphatic  language  resisted  some  efforts 
in  that  direction.  They  argued  that  it  is  the  duty  of  a 
Christian  government  to  provide  means  for  the  religious  and 
moral  education  of  the  poor  and  vicious ;  that  Voluntaryism 
■was  unsuccessful  "  in  making  head  against  the  fearfully  in- 
creased heathenism,  and  increasing  still,  that  accumulates  at 
so  fast  a  rate  throughout  the  great  bulk  and  body  of  the 
common  people;"  that  it  did  not  "reclaim  the  wastes  of 
ignorance  and  irreligion  and  profligacy ; ' '  that  the  congre- 
gational selfishness  which  predominates  everywhere  "can- 
not be  prevailed  on  to  make  large  sacrifices  for  the  Christian 
good  of  the  general  population;"  and  that  the  spirit  was 
*'the  spirit  of  contention,"  of  "demagogism,"  and  of  "im- 
patience of  restraint. "  These  arguments  they  supported  by 
statements  from  the  experience  of  churches  in  Great  Britain 
and  in  America.  They  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  "  an 
EstabHshment,  but  s.pure  Establishment.  "■^ 

This  is  the  judgment  of  those  who  have  looked  upon  our 
experiments  of  evangelism  from  without.  They  have  cer- 
tainly, while  more  advantageous  to  Christianity  than  exist- 

*  Hanna';  Li'fe  and  Writings  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  vol.  iv.  j  and  es- 
says by  Hugh  Miller  and  others. 


94       god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

ing  Establishments,  "failed  to  reacTi  tlie  lapsed  masses." 
Great  districts  in  our  large  cities  are  yielding  annually  to 
the  advances  of  practical  heathenism.  Vast  regions  of  our 
country  are  almost  entirely  destitute  of  good  and  efficacious 
religious  influences.  The  chronic  impotency  and  groans  of 
religious  boards  and  societies  of  all  denominations  of  Chris- 
tians may,  and  should,  fill  a  thinking  Christian  with  both 
distress  and  anxiety.  The  comfort  of  the  churches,  the 
miserable  and  unrelieved  condition  of  millions  in  our  land, 
the  threatening  dangers  of  Romanism  and  infidelity,  the 
exceeding  littleness  of  our  contributions  for  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  on  earth  compared  with  our  immense  expendi- 
tures for  folly  and  vices  and  warfare,  all  demand,  in  tones 
that  seem  to  ring  from  the  judgment-seat  of  a  Eighteous 
God,  that  we  should  search  the  Scriptures  and  find  whether 
God  has  not  taught  his  Church  some  method  for  a  great 
pecuniary  Reformation. 

The  Promised  Power  from  on  High  indicates  to 

THE  Church  the  want  of  Financial  Machinery 

SUITED  TO  it. 

The  grand  ultimate  hope  of  the  Christian  Dispensation  is 
"  the  latter  rain  "  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  descent  of  the  in- 
fluences from  above  which  are  to  water  the  seed  of  the  Gos- 
pel sown  in  the  world,  and  ' '  make  the  wilderness  and  the  sol- 
itary place  glad,  and  the  desert  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the 
rose."*  Most  glorious  hope  of  this  desolate  world !  This 
will  indeed  "create  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth." 

How  are  those  infinitely  gracious  promises  to  be  realized  ? 

*■  Isaiah  XXXV.  and  Ixv. 


THE   NECESSITY   FOR   A   DIVINE  RULE.        95 

Tliere  are  many  who  imagine  that  prayer  alone  is  necessary ; 
or  who  at  least  act  as  if  on  their  part  they  had  nothing  to 
do  but  to  pra}''.  But  for  such  expectations  and  conduct 
they  certainly  have  no  warrant  from  what  Grod  reveals  of 
his  plans  and  our  duties.  He  makes  the  express  compact : 
"Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into  the  storehouse,  and  prove  me 
therewith,  if  I  will  not  open  the  windows  of  heaven  and 
pour  you  out  a  blessing."  There  is  not  a  promise  of  any 
one  blessing  in  all  the  word  of  Grod,  to  saint  or  sinner,  which 
is  not  founded  upon  the  condition  of  his  faithful  employ- 
ment of  regular  appointed  means  to  obtain  it.  It  is  part 
of  the  eternal  purpose  of  good  to  develop  the  faculties, 
capabilities  and  resources  which  Grod  entrusts  to  him. 

The  Church  must  make  it  her  chief  husmess  to  advance 
the  earthly  kingdom  of  her  Lord.  Her  order  and  member- 
ship are  often  spoken  of  as  a  grand  machinery.  The  Holy 
Spirit  is  the  fire.  But  fire  is  of  no  avail  unless  the  ma- 
chinery be  sound  and  in  place,  and  the  difi"erent  departments 
be  properly  attended  to;  then  it  will  accomplish  all  the 
grand  results  for  which  engine  and  machinery  were  de- 
signed. If  parts  be  wanting  or  defective,  if  the  attendants 
be  ignorant  or  negligent,  then  the  fire  assuredly  will  die  out 
without  efiect,  or  else  it  will  burn  or  explode  the  structure. 
Now  a  revival  of  religion  in  the  Church  is  simply  a  bestow- 
ment  of  "  power."  The  beneficial  or  opposite  character  of 
its  results  must  depend  upon  how  men  perform  their  part  in 
applying  the  power  to  hallowed  ends.  The  gifts  of  any 
power  may  be  an  injury  instead  of  a  benefit.  Even  mirac- 
ulous gifts  were  bestowed  upon  some  unbelievers  and  men 
that  were  lost.    The  calculation,  the  economy,  the  fidelity, 


of  men  in  emploj^ments  for  their  own  advantage  must  be 
awakened  and  put  in  action  to  accomplish  the  salvation  of  a 
world,  in  which  the  mighty  influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
are  even  now  beginning  to  be  felt. 

The  apostles  were  authorized  by  the  circumstances  of  the 
age  in  which  they  lived  to  distinguish  it  by  the  world-wide 
proclamation,  "Behold,  now  is  the  accepted  time;  behold, 
now  is  the  day  of  salvation!"*  Thus  we  may  say  of  the 
present,  Now  is  the  era  when  all  are  again  called  ' '  to  re- 
ceive not  the  grace  of  God  in  vain,"  and  to  be  '"'' workers 
with  /wm,"  as  the  apostles  besought  the  Corinthian  Church. 
To  be  such  workers  ' '  every  one ' '  must  give  his  help,  ' '  as  God 
hath  prospered  him,"  to  increase,  train,  send  abroad  and 
sustain  the  men,  and  abundantly  supply  all  instrumentalities 
which  are  needed  to  "preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature." 

The  Near  Approach  of  Christ's  Kingdom  Necessi- 
tates Obedience  to  God's  Rule  of  Giving  to 
MEET  ITS  Wants. 

The  coming  of  Jesus  Christ  to  make  atonement  for  sin 
was  preceded  by  a  grand  direct  preparation  for  it  among  all 
nations.  The  Greek  empire  had  already  planted  its  civili- 
zation in  the  great  centres  of  ancient  power  over  the  world, 
and  had  communicated  to  them  the  language  in  which  it 
was  the  Divine  purpose  to  give  to  mankind  the  New  Testa- 
ment— that  book  which  was  to  contain  the  final  and  complete 
revelations  of  his  will  as  to  our  race  until  the  millennium. 
The  Roman  empire  was  contemporaneous  with  the  com- 
ing of  Christ.  The  Romans  were  law-makers  and  road- 
•*•  2  Cor.  vi.  1,  2 ;  1  Cor.  xvi.  2. 


THE   NECESSITY   FOR   A    DIVINE   RULE.        97 

builders.  This  was  their  grand  mission.  As  the  personal 
teaching  of  John  the  Baptist  was  the  preparation  for  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  Christ,  so  was  the  spread  of  Roman  in- 
fluence the  preparation  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel  of  sal- 
vation to  all  the  world. 

The  roads  which  Rome  built  were  the  greatest  and  most 
useful  monuments  of  her  vast  power.  They  were  constructed 
with  far  greater  outlaj'S  of  labor  and  expense  than  anything 
of  the  kind  in  modern  ages.  The  prophecies  of  Isaiah  were 
literally  fulfilled  as  to  the  leveling  of  mountains  and  valleys, 
the  straightening  of  crooked  ways,  and  the  making  of  the 
rough  ways  smooth.*  Some  of  those  magnificent  highways 
are  among  the  wonders  of  the  world  until  this  day,  and  have 
gone  for  centuries  together  without  repair.  Their  vast  ex- 
cavations and  embankments,  their  paved  bridges,  and  the  care 
with  which  they  were  built  in  four  successive  courses  of  stones 
of  various  sizes,  solidified  with  lime,  and  the  surface  covered 
over  with  blocks  of  smoothed  granite  or  other  hard  rock, 
fitted  and  jointed  like  our  masonry  of  walls,  have  been  un- 
paralleled in  any  subsequent  age.  They  were  felt  to  be  the 
best  exhibition,  and  most  needful  agency,  of  Roman  superi- 
ority. And  so  they  were  as  speedily  as  possible  constructed 
over  conquered  countries.  In  the  Forum  at  Rome  stood  a 
gilded  column  f  inscribed  with  the  names  of  the  principal 

*  Isa.  xi.  3-5,  and  Luke  iii.  4-7. 

■j"  The  location  of  the  milliarimn  aurenm.  is  still  pointed  out  by  the 
guides  at  Rome.  It  is  just  at  the  west  end  of  the  rostra,  or  tribune, 
and  was  the  ideal  centre  of  the  city.  Under  its  shadow  were  de- 
livered many  of  the  speeches  of  the  great  Roman  orators.  Just  north 
of  it  was  the  capitol.   Near  it  on  the  east  was  the  Mamertine  prison, 

r 


98       god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

roads  and  the  distances  to  the  chief  cities  upon  the  course 
of  each  of  them.  They  were  marked  by  milestones,  frequent 
stone  horse-blocks  and  other  conveniences,  and  buildings 
for  military  and  postal  necessities.  There  were  taverns  near 
them  for  travelers.  They  stretched  from  one  extreme  of 
the  empire  to  the  other.  Their  remains  are  seen  to-day 
from  Scotland,  where  the  gospel  was  early  planted,  in  the 
West,  to  Palestine,  whence  its  preachers  started  forth  with 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  East, 

The  coming  of  the  kingdom  and  glory  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  beholds  in  the  present  day  a  similar  swift  and  mighty 
preparation.  So  urgent  and  vast  is  it  that  this  one  genera- 
tion in  which  we  live  has  seen  the  grand  railroad  systems, 
which  now  encompass  the  world  ten  times  as  completely  as 
ever  did  the  old  Roman  roads,  invented  and  perfected  and 
stretched  over  every  continent.  It  has  besides  seen  almost 
every  ocean  and  sea  covered  with  large  and  splendidly  fur- 
nished vessels  pro]3elled  by  steam.  Tens  of  thousands  of 
miles  of  postal  agencies,  incomparably  more  perfect,  useful 
and  cheap  than  any  that  Rome  every  imagined,  link  to- 
gether the  families  and  social  interests  of  mankind.  And 
the  globe  is  belted  by  cords,  operated  by  the  lightning  of 
heaven,  which  instantly  flash  from  the  most  distant  East  to 

in  which  it  is  said  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  and  other  Christians, 
were  at  times  confined — a  dark  and  dreadful  place,  cut  out  of  the 
solid  volcanic  rock,  and  memorable  also  in  the  bloody  political  his- 
tory of  Rome,  but  in  which  is  a  strange,  deep,  still  fountain  whose 
waters  are  cool  and  sweet,  another  "  Siloam,  which  is  by  interpreta- 
tion Sent "  (John  ix.  7),  a  true  symbol  of  the  gospel  and  its  sources 
of  comfort  to  mankind. 


THE  NECESSITY   FOR  A   DIVINE   RULE.        99 

the  farthest  West  the  great  events  of  every  nation  ;  a  final 
preparation  for  the  announcement  to  all  mankind  of  those 
connected  with  "  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man."  * 

This  is  a  final  and  most  inspiring  argument,  which  can  be 
realized  by  every  one  in  this  day  and  nation,  for  the  speedy 
establishment  of  a  financial  system  which  shall  accord  with 
the  wants  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  It  has  never  yet  been 
done.  God  has  given  us  the  Rule.  The  time  calls  for  its 
application  without  delay.  "The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at 
hand!" 

*  Matt.  xxiv.  27. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  PROGRESSIVE  REVELATION  OF  GOD'S 
WILL  AS  TO  CHRISTIAN  GIVING. 

rriHE  gradual  development  of  doctrine  in  the  New  Testa- 
-L  nient,  or  in  the  entire  word  of  God,  is  one  of  the  fea- 
tures of  revelation  to  which  the  attention  of  Christian  schol- 
ars has  been  strongly  directed  of  late  j^ears,  and  upon  which 
a  flood  of  new  light  has  been  thrown. 

The  Scriptures  contain  no  complete  systematic  statements 
as  to  the  moral  government  of  God  in  heaven,  or  of  that 
upon  earth ;  as  to  the  structure  of  the  stars,  or  of  the  king- 
dom of  nature  in  this  globe  ;  as  to  the  history  of  mankind ; 
as  to  prophecy ;  as  to  the  plan  of  redemption ;  or  as  to  Chris- 
tian duties. 

The  great  field  of  revelation  has  been  divided  into  three 
parts ;  which  are  found  in  the  patriarchal  dispensation,  the 
dispensation  of  the  law,  and  the  dispensation  of  the  gospel. 
The  great  principles  which  relate  to  the  incarnation,  atone- 
ment and  reign  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  are  opened  up  to 
man  in  three  difierent  forms  or  stages :  first,  occasionally,  and 
but  as  to  their  elementary  ideas ;  second,  minutely,  specific- 
ally, and  with  temporal  rewards  and  penalties  attached  to 
them ;  third,  in  a  broader,  less  definite,  and  but  more 
spiritual  form,  based  upon  love  to  God  and  to  the  souls  of 
men. 

100 


REVEL ATIOX  OF  GOD's   WILL.  101 

In  such  a  way  is  taught  the  fact  that  Grod  designed  that 
an  atonement  should  be  made  for  sin  by  the  shedding  of  the 
blood  of  the  Divine  Son.  First  we  discern  with  some  diffi- 
culty that  sacrifices  were  instituted  when  Adam  was  cast  out 
of  the  garden  of  innocence  ;  then,  next,  the  law  particular- 
izes all  their  numerous  forms,  as  types  of  Christ's  suffering; 
then,  lastl}^  Christ  dies  and  rises  again  from  the  dead,  and 
the  former  precise  and  severe  forms  are  broken  up,  to  ad- 
vance the  Church  of  a  risen  Redeemer  beyond  their  pupil- 
age, that  it  may  serve  him  with  more  spiritual  fidelity,  and 
from  deeper,  more  powerful,  and  everlasting  motives  of  love 
and  gratitude. 

In  the  same  way  is  unfolded  the  obligation  of  the  observ- 
ance of  one  day  in  seven  as  a  Sabbath  of  holy  rest  and  wor- 
ship. First,  we  see  God  resting  from  the  creation  of  the 
world  on  the  seventh  day,  and  several  allusions  to  periodic 
worship  in  commemoration  of  it ;  yet  we  do  not  see  the  word 
"  Sabbath  "  occur,  nor  do  we  read  one  precept  regarding  it 
in  all  the  history  of  the  patriarchal  ages  down  to  the  giving 
of  the  law  at  Sinai.  Under  the  law,  it  is  most  rigidly  and 
solemnly  defined ;  its  number  is  set  as  a  seal  upon  every  di- 
vision of  time — on  days,  months,  years  and  seven  times 
seven  years ;  and  the  violation  of  it  is  made  punishable 
with  death.  Finally,  in  Christ's  resurrection  from  the  dead 
on  that  day,  a  new  and  spiritual  seal  is  set  upon  tbe  Sab- 
bath ;  and  it  becomes  joyful  and  glorious  as  the  pledge,  by 
the  risen  Creator  and  Redeemer  of  mankind,  of  the  fulfill- 
ment of  the  promises  of  comfort,  sanctification  and  happiness 
to  the  soul,  the  earnest  of  a  reign  of  peace  on  earth,  and  the 
sign  of  an  eternal  rest  in  heaven. 


102     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

Just  so  it  is  with  the  ordinance  as  to  property.  The  same 
reasons  which  govern  the  method  in  which  other  important 
religious  truth  is  revealed  will  be  applicable  to  the  revelation 
of  this.  Like  the  atonement  of  Christ,  which  is  the  basis 
of  the  salvation  of  man,  and  like  the  Sabbath,  which  is  the 
sign  and  seal  of  it  to  the  Church,  so  the  ordinance  as  to 
offerings  of  monej^  which  are  the  chief  means  by  which  the 
army  of  salvation  is  to  be  sent  forth  and  supported  in  the 
subjugation  of  the  world,  is  revealed  in  three  successive 
forms  or  stages.  First,  in  the  patriarchal  age,  we  distinguish 
but  occasional  and  brief  references  to  it — a  mysterious  royal 
priest,  a  type  of  Christ,  receives  tithes  from  Abraham ;  or 
a  Jacob  vows  a  tenth  of  all  that  the  Lord  shall  give  him 
as  a  memorial  of  the  covenant  made  at  Bethel.  Then, 
second,  under  the  law,  the  ordinances  as  to  tithes  and  gifts 
are  most  minutely  specified,  applied  to  the  various  sources 
of  income,  and  severe  penalties  are  attached  to  neglect  of 
payment,  even  to  the  extent  of  excommunication  or  death. 
Finally,  in  Christ,  the  new  and  spiritual  motives  of  love  and 
gratitude  are  planted  at  the  foundation  of  the  duty ;  a 
mighty  pressure  is  laid  upon  the  followers  of  God  for  greatly 
enlarged  beneficence  in  the  command  to  preach  the  Grospel 
to  every  creature ;  and,  in  view  of  the  vastly  multiplied 
wealth  which  it  was  the  purpose  of  Grod  to  bestow  on  Chris- 
tian nations  and  people,  a  greater  measure  of  liberality  is 
enjoined,  in  the  duty  that  every  one  shall  lay  by  a  weekly 
apportionment  of  his  income,  and  also  in  the  designation  of 
the  standard  of  reckoning  it,  which  is  to  be  "  as  the  Lord 
hath  prospered. " 

It  is  most  important  for  us  thoroughly  to  study  and  com- 


103 

prehend  the  relationship  of  the  leading  features  of  the  three 
dispensations.  Moses  came  not  to  destroj^,  but  to  fulfill,  the 
first  rudiments  and  principles  of  revelation  made  to  the 
patriarchs.  And  Christ  came  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill, 
the  fuller  and  clearer  revelations  of  the  law.  Each  takes 
the  prior  foundations ;  he  builds  another  story  of  the  same 
house  ;  the  fundamental  principles  of  each  former  dispensa- 
tion are  applied  in  a  more  enlarged,  spiritual  and  efi'ectual 
way.  Thus  Paul  reasons  often,  for  instance,  in  the  verses 
relating  to  the  support  of  the  ministry.  "  For  it  is  written 
in  the  law  of  Moses,  Thou  shalt  not  muzzle  the  mouth  of 
the  ox  that  treadeth  out  the  corn.  Does  God  take  care  for 
oxen?  Or  saith  he  it  altogether  for  our  sakes?"  etc.  Here 
the  law  of  nature,  the  law  of  the  old  dispensation,  and  the 
principles  of  the  gospel,  are  presented  as  the  root,  the  stem 
and  the  fruit  of  the  same  one  plant.  And  he  compares 
them  in  the  same  chapter  to  the  consecutiveness  of  plough- 
ing and  threshing,  sowing  and  reaping  in  the  same  field.* 

The  New  Testament  revelation  is  in  itself  progressive  as 
to  the  duty  of  giving  money  for  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 
First  we  are  instructed,  in  the  gospels,  as  to  elementary 
principles  presented  in  the  life,  the  death  and  the  mission 
of  "Jesus  Christ  the  Son  of  God;"  next,  in  the  Acts,  as 
to  the  illustrations  of  them  in  the  spirit,  labors  and  success 
of  the  first  preachers  of  the  gospel ;  then  by  the  exposition, 
in  the  epistle  to  the  Romans,  of  the  nature  of  justification 
by  faith  in  Christ,  and  its  relation  to  a  life  of  complete 
holiness  and  consecration  to  him ;  and  this  brings  us  to  the 
epistles  to  the  Corinthians,  which  are  explanatory  of  the 
*  1  Cor.  ix. 


104      god's  kule  for  christian  giving. 

ordinances  of  tlie  Christian  Church.  As  the  gospels  end 
with  the  command  to  preach  the  gospel  to  all  the  world ;  as 
the  Acts  end  with  the  labors  of  Paul  at  the  world's  centre  of 
power  in  Rome  ;  and  as  the  epistle  to  the  Roman  Christians 
ends  with  exhortations  based  upon  the  assurance  of  the  uni- 
versal triumphs  of  the  gospel ;  so  does  this  epistle  to  the  Cor- 
inthians follow  up  all  the  teachings  as  to  the  ordinances  of 
the  Church  with  this  definite  and  practical  one  as  to  the 
pecuniary  means  by  which  its  heavenly  benefits  are  to  be 
conveyed  and  distributed,  through  human  channels  and  in- 
strumentahties,  among  all  nations.  And  this  statement  of 
the  rule  is  followed  by  varied  warnings  and  encouragements 
to  this  great  end  in  other  epistles  and  in  the  book  of  Reve- 
lations, which  are  a  sequel  to  it.  The  whole  volume  closes 
with  the  terrible  pictures  by  John  of  the  final  judgment  of 
antichristian  powers  and  of  mankind,  and  the  glorious  and 
rapturous  ones  of  the  millennium  and  of  heaven.  In  the 
final  state  of  joy  they  that  have  been  faithful  unto  death 
receive  a  crown  of  Hfe.  The  gifts  and  ofi'erings  out  of  the 
self-denials  of  earth  are  recompensed  with  an  eternal  home 
in  that  city  whose  foundations  are  garnished  with  all  manner 
of  precious  stones ;  and  the  twelve  gates  are  twelve  pearls ; 
and  the  city  is  of  pure  gold,  as  it  were  transparent  glass ; 
and  the  glory  of  God  doth  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the 
light  thereof "" 

The  particular  design  of  this  epistle  as  a  corporate  part  of 

the  New  Testament  was  to  give  instruction  in  regard  to  the 

ordinances  of  the  Church.     It  treats  of  the  functions  of  its 

ministry  and  ofl&cers;   the  impropriety  of  some  customs 

*  Rev.  xxi. 


REVELATION   OF   GOD's    WILL.  105 

which  heathen  converts  had  introduced  into  public  worshii» ; 
the  nature  of  pubHc  prayer ;  the  form  of  the  sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  Supper  ;  the  ground  of  these  ordinances,  the  res- 
urrection of  Christ  and  of  the  dead ;  and  finally  the  proper 
method  of  making  pecuniary  contributions.  It  is  the  con- 
cluding purpose  of  the  apostle  to  found  the  exhortation  to 
Christian  zeal,  industry  and  liberality,  which  we  are  con- 
sidering, directly  upon  the  certainty  of  our  resurrection,  and 
the  trial  and  recompenses  of  the  Judgment  Day.  It  was 
this  topic,  above  all  others,  which  then  was  the  staple  of  the 
preaching,  the  hymns,  the  prayers,  the  communion  exer- 
cises, of  the  Sabbath  day.  The  resurrection  and  judgment 
was  the  one  upon  which  the  apostle  would  most  naturally  and 
powerfully  base  the  instruction  and  rule  in  respect  to  the 
appropriation  and  use  of  money,  which  is  the  recompense 
of  all  ordinary  employments,  and  the  instrumentality  of 
support  for  the  heralds  of  the  gospel. 

The  formula  itself,  like  the  decalogue,  the  Lord's  prayer, 
and  the  last  command  of  Christ,  is  wonderfully  concise. 
One  of  the  evidences  of  the  divine  origin,  wisdom  and  au- 
thority of  a  rule  which  is  designed  for  the  instruction  of 
the  universal  Christian  Church  in  respect  to  the  collection 
of  money  for  all  its  diverse  and  incalculable  wants,  is  the 
brevity  and  simplicity  of  it.  The  complete  summary  of 
universal  and  perpetual  moral  law  for  mankind  was  given 
through  Moses  from  Mount  Sinai  in  ten  statements,  con- 
taining but  a  hundred  and  fifty-eight  words.  The  perfect 
model  for  Christian  prayer  was  stated  by  Jesus  Christ  to  his 
disciples  in  seven  sentences  of  se vent}'- three  words.  This 
ordinance  as  to  Christian  stewardship  in  property  was  writ- 


ten  by  Paul  in  one  sentence  of  thirteen,  which  our  common 
translation  renders  in  twenty-two  words,  as  follows : 

"  Upon  the  first  day  op  the  week  let  every  one  of 
you  lay  by  him  in  store  as  god  hath  prospered  him." 

The  most  consummate  financier  in  modern  ages  can  add 
nothing  to,  and  take  nothing  from,  this  brief  rule.  It  con- 
tains every  important  principle  necessary  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  great  end  in  view.  All  that  is  needed  is 
simple  obedience  to  it,  in  order  to  fill  the  treasuries  of  the 
Christian  Church,  to  secure  for  the  Church  that  favor  of 
God  which  follows  from  conformity  to  his  will,  and  to  supply 
means  sufficient  to  send  the  Gospel  to  every  creature.  It  is 
suited  to  be  a  complete,  abiding  and  universal  rule.  It  is 
one  which  should  be  put  upon  the  walls  of  every  house  of 
worship ;  which  should  be  written  in  the  memory  and  heart 
of  every  professor  of  religion ;  and  which  should  be  taught 
to  every  child  that  has  been  consecrated  to  God  in  Christian 
baptism. 

Examination  of  the  Form  of  the  Rule. 

An  examination  of  the  form  of  the  rule  which  is  given  by 
the  apostle  shows  its  design  to  be,  that  Christians  should 
practice  a  method  of  appropriating  to  religious  objects  a 
share  of  the  proceeds  of  all  their  ordinary  labor,  which 
should  have  some  regularity  both  as  to  time  and  amount. 
Let  us  first  observe  the  context. 

Paul  has  been  teaching,  through  the  Spirit  of  God,  the 
glorious  and  wonderful  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead.  He  thus  continues,  in  showing  the  necessary  fruits 
of  it  in  their  life:  "Therefore,  my  beloved  brethren,  be  ye 


EEVELATION   OF   GOD's   WILL.  107 

steadfast,  unmovable,  alwaj^s  abounding  in  the  work  of  tlie 
Lord,  forasmuch  as  your  labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord. 
Now  concerning  the  collection  for  the  saints,  as  I  have  given 
order  to  the  churches  of  G-alatia,  even  so  do  ye.  Upon  the 
first  day  of  the  week  let  every  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in 
store,  as  God  hath  prospered  him,  that  there  be  no  gather- 
ings when  I  come.  And  when  I  come,  whomsoever  ye 
shall  approve  by  your  letters,  them  will  I  send  to  bring 
your  liberality  to  Jerusalem."  The  latter  verses  of  this 
passage  are  in  our  common  English  version  entirely  too 
much  dissevered  from  the  first.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  division  into  chapters  has  only  existed  about  six 
hundred  years.  The  direct  connection  of  duty  with  doc- 
trine is  presented,  as  the  inspired  writer  designed,  by  our 
reading  the  epistle  continuously.  So  Theophylact*  and 
others  of  the  early  fathers  represent  it :  "The  apostle,  hav- 
ing finished  the  subject  of  doctrines  and  now  proceeding  to 
treat  of  moral  duties  and  virtues,  leaves  the  rest  and  enters 
upon  that  of  the  queen  of  virtues^  almsgiving." 

That  the  inspired  writer  designs  this  to  be  an  authorita- 
tive and  general  ordinance  is  evident,  in  the  first  place,  from 
its  doctrinal  connection. 

The  rule  is  introduced  by  a  Greek  adverb  f  translated 
"  now."  It  is  more  properly  and^  as  it  is  "  continuative  ;" 
that  is,  it  takes  up  and  carries  on  a  thought  which  had  been 
interrupted,  or  "marks  something  added  by  way  of  ex- 
planation, example,  etc. "J  In  this  light  it  should  be  kept 
ever  before  us.     The  day  of  the  resurrection  and  judgment 

*  Quoted  by  BLOOiiriELD;  Recensio  Synoptica.  f  5e'. 

\  Robinson,-   Gr.  Lexicon  of  New  Testament. 


approcaches  to  all  of  us.  Let  us  always  "abound  in  the 
work  of  the  Lord,"  in  efforts  to  save  souls  which  with  us 
shall  give  their  account  upon  that  day,  knowing  that  our 
"labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord,"  but  that  "Grod  will 
render  to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds."  "^uc?"  in 
contributions  of  money,  which  are  so  necessary  for  the 
spread  of  the  gospel  and  benevolent  efforts,  according  to 
the  rule  or  order  which  Grod  has  given,  "  even  so  do  ;"  that 
thus  we  may  give  with  sufficient  liberality  and  the  right  aims, 
and  that  God's  blessing  may  follow  the  objects  for  which 
our  money  is  expended. 

Then  it  is  manifest,  when  we  consider  the  persons  ad- 
dressed, that  the  object  is  to  establish  a  positive  and  gen- 
eral rule.  The  subject  of  contributions  is  one  of  the  chief 
themes  in  Paul's  two  epistles  to  the  Corinthians.  The 
Asiatics  of  Gralatia  and  other  churches  in  Asia  Minor, 
and  the  Greeks  of  Corinth,  received  the  same  instructions. 
There  were  embraced  in  them  both  gentiles  and  Jews. 
As  new  converts  they  evidently  needed  clear  and  positive  in- 
junctions on  many  points.  This  " order"  is  the  peremptory 
topic  of  the  closing  chapter ;  a  special  application,  suited  to 
all  the  Christian  churches,  of  the  Redeemer's  "  last  com- 
mand." 

It  is  sometimes  affirmed  that  the  rule  was  given  to  the 
Corinthians  and  Galatians  alone.  But  it  is  an  extraordinary 
claim  to  make,  that  a  wise  and  important  ordinance  should 
be  given  to  one  locality  ;  and  its  benefits  or  its  obligations 
not  be  shared  in  by  all  others.  This  is  not  done  with  other 
appointments  or  admonitions.     AVhat  is  addressed  by  in- 


109 


spiration  to  Christians  at  Colosse,  or  at  Kome,  or  at  Epliesus, 
every  believer  unhesitatingly  recognizes  as  intended  for  all.* 
Why  so  scrupulous  in  this  particular  matter  ?  Surely  every 
element  of  claim  upon  the  purse,  or  upon  the  self-denial,  of 
a  Corinthian  or  Galatian  exists  in  respect  to  the  duty  of 
professed  Christians  elsewhere ! 

The  apostle  addresses  "every  one"  of  them.  So  that 
he  is  laying  upon  the  Corinthians  simply  the  same  obliga- 
tions which  belong  to  all  classes  of  mankind ;  whether  they 
be  in  one  nation  or  another;  the  rich  or  the  poor,  the 
great  or  the  humble,  the  male  or  the  female  members. 

A  third  consideration  is  that  the  ordinance  was  not  in- 
tended to  meet  any  temporary  emergency  of  the  churches  of 
Galatia  and  Corinth.  It  was  in  its  natm-e  a  general  ordi- 
nance to  the  Christian  Church;  as  fully  calculated  to  be 
universal  and  perpetual  as  were  the  previous  ordinances  re- 
garding marriage,  or  the  Lord's  Supper,  or  the  support  of 
the  Christian  ministry.  This  indeed  was  to  be  the  divine 
New  Testament  provision  as  to  the  means  of  the  support  of 
the  ministry,  the  functions  of  whose  office  the  apostle  has 
been  so  largely  discussing  in  these  epistles  to  the  Corinth- 
ians. For  the  want  of  obedience  to  this  provision  of  God  the 
Church  has  suffered,  and  the  world  has  suffered,  beyond  all 
conception.     Religion  has  either  been  humiliated  by  her 

*  Thus,  says  Chrysostom,  to  the  Corinthians  he  proposes  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Galatians;  to  the  Macedonians  the  example  of  the 
Corinthians ;  to  the  Romans  that  of  the  Corinthians  and  Macedoni- 
ans.— 2  Cor.  ix.  2.  Rom.  xv.  26.  And  he  called  attention  to  the 
consideration  that  the  "  Galatians "  were  not  the  inhabitants  of 
one  city,  but  of  a  large  province.     Homilies  on  1  Cor. 


110     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

obligations  to  the  ungodly  civil  powers,  or  else  by  ber 
wants  and  helplessness. 

It  is  a  consideration  of  weight  in  regard  to  the  language 
of  the  apostle,  that  the  word  "  collection  "  in  the  original* 
is  not  a  classical,  or  heathen,  Greek  word.  It  signifies  a 
transaction  which  requires  reckoning,  consideration,  judg- 
ment. It  is  something  which  Christians  everywhere  should 
make  a  duty  and  a  habit.  It  has  been  remarked  that "  the 
entire  form  of  the  introduction,  as  well  as  the  article  '  the ' 
before  the  Greek  word  translated  ''collection^''  indicates  that 
he  had  spoken  before  in  regard  to  the  matter,  and  the 
Corinthians  had  now,  perhaps,  inquired  how  they  were  to 
carry  it  forward."!  This  is  also  the  meaning  of  the  in- 
struction that  he  is  "to  lay  aside"  money  for  charitable  ob- 
jects. It  is  to  be  a  regular  business  of  the  Christian  life 
of  "  every  one." 

The  binding  and  universal  character  of  the  ordinance  is 
impressed  upon  us  by  a  fourth  evidence,  that  of  the  selec- 
tion of  the  verb  used  in  respect  to  the  appointment:  "I 
have  given  order. "J  It  is  a  very  strong  one.  It  is  the 
same  verb  in  the  original  which  describes  the  charge  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  to  the  twelve  apostles.  "When  Jesus  had 
made  an  end  of  commanding  his  disciples."  It  occurs 
four  other  times  in  the  gospels ;  three  times  with  reference 
to  Christ,  and  once  to  the  law  of  the  Roman  empire. 
When  Christ  healed  Jairus'  daughter,  he  ^^  commanded 
them  to  give  her  meat. ' '     He  spoke  with  authority  because 

*  \oyCa,  from  the  root  Ae'-yw. 

I  C.  F.  Kling,  in  Lange's  Com. 

If  SteVala. 


EEVELATION   OF   GOD's   WILL.  Ill 

they  had  "laughed  him  to  scorn."  Again,  it  is  used  twice 
when  enforcing  upon  the  disciples  the  necessity  of  submis- 
sion to  himself.  "Doth  he  [the  master]  thank  that  ser- 
vant because  he  did  the  things  which  loere  commanded  him? 
I  trow  not.  So  hkewise  ye,  when  ye  have  done  all  those 
things  which  are  commanded  you,  say,  We  are  unprofitable 
servants."  John  the  Baptist  employs  it  concerning  the 
Roman  law,  "Exact  no  more  than  that  which  is  appointed 
you."  In  other  portions  of  the  New  Testament  the  word 
is  used  as  a  verb  or  noun  in  the  same  sense.  Thus,  of  civil 
power:  "Whosoever  resisteth  the  power,  resisteth  the  ordi- 
nance of  God."  It  cannot  be  questioned  that  the  apostle 
Paul  designed  the  rule  he  was  about  to  lay  down  to  be  a 
special,  authoritative,  binding  ordinance  of  a  penal  nature 
in  the  Church,  and  to  be  a  ground  of  judgment  before  the 
bar  of  God.  He  employs  the  verb  of  the  original  four 
times  in  this  epistle.  As  to  matters  relating  to  divorces : 
"So  ordain  I  in  all  the  churches."  As  to  ministerial 
support:  "Even  so  hath  the  Lord  ordained,  that  they 
which  preach  the  gospel  should  live  of  the  gospel."  As  to 
the  Lord's  Supper  :  "And  the  rest  will  I  set  in  order  when 
1  come."  And  in  the  ordinance  as  to  giving,  which  is  be- 
fore us  :  "  Concerning  the  collection  for  the  churches,  as  I 
have  given  order  to  the  churches  of  Galatia,  even  so  do  ye." 
These  all  are  "ordinances"  binding  upon  the  Christian 
Church  at  large.  Each  has  its  penalties  and  its  rewards — 
if  indeed  we  can  attach  the  idea  of  reward  to  that  which  is 
of  the  nature  of  law,  and  duty,  and  where  it  is  all  of 
"  grace  "  that  we  stand  and  have  hope  of  the  glory  of  God. 
Then  it  is  of  vital  importance  to  each  of  us  that  we  do  not 


112     god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

fail  in  keeping  iJiis  one,  and  lose  the  great  blessings  of 
obedience,  or  reap  the  punishment  of  neglect. 

Finally,  the  effect  of  the  rule,  "that  there  be  no  gather- 
ings when  I  come,"  is  worthy  of  thoughtful  consideration. 

Having  compendiously  and  clearly  stated  the  rule,  the 
apostle  adds  in  this  brief  sentence  the  reason  for  his  laying 
it  down.  He  was  determined  that  no  extraordinary  gather- 
ings in  money  should  be  made  during  his  visit  to  Corinth. 
The  great  wisdom  of  this  course  is  discerned  when  we  ob- 
serve the  character  of  the  people,  the  condition  of  the 
Church,  and  the  objects  he  had  in  view.  The  second 
epistle,  written  perhaps  a  year  subsequently,  contains  nu- 
merous references  to  the  rule  and  throws  much  light  upon 
its  workings.  We  learn  that  among  his  objects  were  these 
important  ones :  to  prevent  ecclesiastical  constraint  in  giv- 
ing ;  to  check  giving  from  temporary  impulse ;  to  inspire 
Christians  to  give  in  due  measure  ;  and  to  remove  grounds 
for  wrong  imputations  as  to  the  motives  of  the  ministry  and 
officers  of  the  church.  These  are  objections  and  obstacles 
which  the  ministry  encounter  everywhere,  and  always  must 
continue  to  meet,  especially  in  new  fields  of  labor,  where 
their  motives  are  not  understood,  and  they  are  personal 
strangers  to  the  people.  Indeed  under  all  circumstances  of 
the  Church  it  is  most  important  to  detach  collections  of 
money  from  personal  considerations  connected  with  the 
agents  who  present  claims  for  them,  and  to  make  them  a 
matter  of  conscience  before  God. 

The  conclusion  to  which  a  thorough  examination  of  the 
form  of  this  rule,  and  the  part  of  Scripture  immediately 


REVELATION   OF   GOD's   WILL.  113 

related  to  it,  leads  us  is  :  that  the  inspired  writer  intended 
to  la}^  down  a  final  ordinance,  authoritative  and  perpetual, 
like  those  upon  other  points  of  church  order  and  discipline, 
and  peculiarly  important  to  the  growth  and  power  of  the 
Church  amidst  the  gentile  nations  of  the  earth. 

Summary  of  Instructions  Contained  in  the  Divine 
Rule. 

We  take  up  this  divine  rule  of  the  New  Testament 
Church  to  examine  the  character  of  the  instructions  which 
it  has  pleased  the  great  and  ever  blessed  Head  of  the  Church 
to  give  for  the  guidance  of  its  members  in  this  most  im- 
portant matter. 

"  Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week  let  every  one  of  yoit  lay 
by  him  in  store  as  God  hath  prospered  him." 

We  easily  separate  the  leading  points  into  four  heads. 
Christian  giving  is : 

I.  A  weekly  religious  duty  ; 

II.  Of  universal  obligation  ; 

III.  By  acts  of  personal  consecration  and  donation ; 

IV.  According  to  some  definite  and,  with  the  blessing  of 
God,  enlarging  proportion  of  the  income. 

Let  us  make  it  our  chief  efibrt  and  prayer,  as  Christians, 
in  a  matter  relating  to  the  service  of  God  and  affecting 
greatly  the  honor  of  his  Church,  to  obtain  light  upon  it 
from  the  great  sources  which  he  has  given  us,  in  the  teach- 
ing of  the  New  Testament,  in  the  preparatory  and  typical 
appointnjents  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  in  the  interpreta- 
tions which  the  Christians  of  the  earliest,  aud  on  the  whole 
the  brightest,  centuries  of  the  Church  put  upon  them. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  CHRISTIAN  SAB- 
BATH: ITS  WORSHIP  AND  INSTRUCTIONS, 

OUR  FIRST  great  topic,  the  command  that  Christian  giv- 
ing shall  be  made  "  ON  the  first  day  of  the  week  " 
— that  is,  aiveeJdy  religious  duty — opens  before  us  the  grand 
motives  and  the  occasion  of  it.  If  these  motives  can  be 
made  plain  to  the  Christian  mind,  and  this  occasion  shown 
to  be  divinely  appointed  and  to  be  practically  the  wisest  and 
most  efficient  arrangement  possible  for  the  end  in  view,  the 
most  important  purpose  of  this  volume  will  be  accomplished. 
There  are  two  lights  in  which  we  may  study  this  appoint- 
ment. AVe  may  consider  the  power  of  the  spiritual  rnQiiYQ^ 
and  usefulness  of  the  religious  opportunities  afforded  by  the 
Sabbath,  and  we  may  look  at  the  subject  in  a  purely  secular 
aspect.  Let  us  take  it  up  now  in  the  former  of  these  lights, 
the  spiritual  and  religious. 

The  Worship  of  a  Primitive  Christian  Sabbath. 
The  primitive  Christians  had  one  supreme  idea  of  the 
Lord's  day,  that  it  was  a  grand  and  joyful  festival.  It  was 
the  great  animating  centre,  the  warm  and  vigorous  heart  of 
their  religious  life.  They  celebrated  it  with  every  suitable 
expression  of  enjoyment  and  method  of  communicating  en- 
joyment to  others. 
114 


SPIRIT   OF   A   PEIMITIVE   SABBATH.  115 

Let  us  bring  this  conception  clearty  before  our  minds  by 
contrasting  the  original  Sabbath  of  the  Church  with  later 
methods  of  the  observance  of  the  day. 

It  was  not  a  sensual  Sabbath,  like  that  of  the  corrupted 
Christian  churches.  The  Roman  Church-  retains  the  one 
most  distinguishing  element  of  the  primitive  Sabbath  in  her 
efforts  to  make  it  a  festival  of  enjoyment,  or,  at  least,  of 
excitement ;  but  its  liveliest  element  is  wanting.  The  an- 
cient spirituality  is  lost.  The  music,  the  prayers,  the  entire 
sentiment,  of  a  Romanist  Sabbath  are  in  their  essence  sen- 
sual. They  possess  enough  of  the  original  conception  to 
make  them  powerfully  fascinating.  The  thrilling  music, 
the  passionate  liturgies,  the  sublime  architecture,  the  gloW" 
ing  and  splendid  paintings,  the  rich  and  gorgeous  apparel 
of  the  priesthood,  completely  carry  away  the  senses  of  the 
multitude.  The  emotions  created  are  intense.  Women 
faint  under  their  power.  Nothing  on  earth  which  is  of 
earth  so  powerfully  moves  the  soul,  carries  the  whole  nature 
captive  and  inspires  love,  admiration,  zeal,  willingness  to 
give,  suffer  and  dare  all  things  for  the  sake  of  the  re- 
ligion. 

But  the  effect  is  to  sensualize  the  nature.  The  Roman 
Catholic  Sabbath  morning  makes  the  Roman  Catholic  Sab- 
bath afternoon  and  evening ;  and  that  is  the  time  of  the 
finest  operas  and  dramatic  entertainments  of  the  week,  of 

-'•  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  other  ancient  churches  with  which 
American  readers  generally  are  not  so  familiar.  The  Greek  Church 
worship  has  many  points  of  resemblance  to  the  Roman.  The  Rus- 
sians exhibit  equal  enthusiasm  when  engaged  in  it  or  speaking 
of  it. 


116      god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

tlie  grandest  military  parades,  of  ' '  festive ' '  social  enter- 
tainments, of  exciting  exhibitions  for  the  multitude,  such  as 
bull-fights  and  bear-fights  and  cock-fights,  and  the  wild  and 
passionate  scenes  of  the  numberless  resorts  and  establish- 
ments for  gambling.  This  is  the  education  which  benumbs 
the  spiritual  sense  of  sin,  which  makes  the  bandit ;  or  which 
suggests  an  ascetic,  that  is  still  also  a  sensual,  remedy,  and 
makes  the  monk  and  the  nun.  All  the  social  and  political  in- 
stitutions of  a  people  are  thus  shaped  and  colored,  as  a  cas- 
tle or  palace  is  conformed  to  the  rock  or  eminence  on  which 
it  is  built,  by  the  character  of  this  foundation. 

Nor  was  the  original  Sabbath  austere.  AVhen  the  Swiss 
conscience,  looking  down  from  the  Alpine  refuges  from 
persecution  and  strongholds  of  freedom,  saw  the  grossness 
and  criminahty  of  Romanism  laid  low  by  the  great  uprising 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  how  natural  was  it  for  the  chaste 
Keformed  Church  and  her  children  in  Scotland  and  Eng- 
land to  become  severe.  The  sternness,  the  plainness,  the 
inflexibility,  the  chilly  rigor  of  an  old  Presbyterian  or  Puri- 
tan Sabbath,  0,  how  much  they  have  to  excuse  them  when 
we  consider  that  they  were  the  girding  on  of  strong  and  rough 
raiment,  the  grasping  of  the  iron-shod  staff  and  the  dull 
lantern,  and  the  preparation  of  nourishing  food  and  strong 
cordials  by  brave  men  and  women  who  left  the  dance  and  the 
laughter  to  go  out  and  save  the  people  who  were  perishing 
in  the  darkness  and  storm. 

Nor  far  less  was  the  primitive  Sabbath  the  inane  and 
placid  modern  day,  displaying  itself  in  pretty  feathers  and 
silks,  amused  with  the  harmonies  of  a  musical  quartette, 
simpering  over  a  pious  lecture  on  science  or  domestic  duties 


SPIRIT   OF   A   PRIMITIVE   SABBATH.         117 

as  a  substitute  in  tlie  pulpit  for  the  thunders  of  the  Al- 
mighty or  the  invitations  to  dying  men  from  the  cross  of 
Calvary,  and  putting  a  dollar  into  the  contribution  box 
which  represents  the  efforts  of  Christendom  for  the  salva- 
tion of  hundreds  of  millions  of  our  race  from  eternal  damna- 
tion in  hell. 

No !  We  have  come  to  the  close  of  this  order  of  things, 
to  another  of  the  revolutionary  eras  of  the  world  ;  one  like 
the  deluge,  like  the  day  of  Moses,  like  the  day  of  Christ. 
"We  have  reached  the  time  for  the  reinstatement  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath. 

It  is  of  great  importance  to  the  Christian  Church  in  this 
new  "fullness  of  times,"  that  we  inform  ourselves  as  to 
what  the  Christian  Sabbath  is.  We  read  often  of  a  Euro- 
pean "  Continental  Sabbath,"  of  a  "  Scottish  Sabbath,"  or 
of  an  "American  Sabbath."  The  good  or  objectionable 
features  of  each,  its  advantages  or  its  perils,  are  depicted. 
But  there  is  only  one  concern  to  the  minds  of  the  sons  of 
God,  who  believe  that  "  of  his  own  will  begat  he  them  with 
the  word  of  truth,"  that  "the  Spirit  of  truth  "  "will  guide 
them  into  all  truth,"  who  profess  the  creed  that  "  the  word 
of  Grod  which  is  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments  is  the  only  rule  to  direct  us  how 
we  may  glorify  and  enjoy  him."*  What,  then,  is  the  scrip- 
tural and  original  Christian  Sabbath?  What  were  its  spirit, 
its  worship,  and  its  duties? 

The  Ideal  taken  froji  the  great  Jewish  Festivals. 
The  ideal  of  the  primitive  Christian  Sabbath  was  obtained 

*  Jas.  i.  18.     John  xvi.  13.     Shorter  Catechiam,  Quest.  2. 


118      god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

from  the  great  festivals  of  the  Jews.  The  great  feasts  of 
the  wave  offering  of  the  first  sheaf,  of  Pentecost,  or  the 
feast  of  weeks,  and  of  tabernacles  at  harvest,  all  of  them 
t3^pes  of  blessings  procured  through  a  risen  Saviour,  were 
appointed  of  God  for  the  first  day  of  the  week  instead  of 
the  seventh ;  this  would  suggest  what  was  the  purpose  of 
the  Lord  as  to  the  day.  The  Jewish  Sabbath  had  much 
that  was  joyful  in  it,  but  much  also  that  was  legal  and 
severe.  The  Son  of  God,  he  who  "made  the  worlds"  and 
was  "the  brightness"  of  "the  glory"  of  the  Godhead, 
said :  "  I  am  the  Light  of  the  world."  It  was  an  idea  fre- 
quently expressed  by  the  apostles  that  the  coming  of  Jesus 
Christ  into  this  world  of  chaos  and  darkness  was  like  the 
voice  which  at  the  first  said,  "Let  there  be  light  and  there 
was  light."  This  thought  connected  itself  with  the  Divine 
worship  of  the  Sabbath  when  it  was  changed  to  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  and  was  designated  "the  Lord's  day."* 
It  is  one  which  gave  great  joy  to  the  hearts  of  the  early  dis- 
ciples. It  is  found  in  the  few  remains  of  their  writings 
which  yet  exist.  One  of  the  personal  disciples  of  the  apos- 
tle John,  Ignatius,  was  born  in  Syria.  The  apostle  ap- 
pointed him,  in  the  year  67,  pastor  of  the  great  missionary 
church  of  Antioch,  where  he  lived  forty  years^until  his  mar- 
tyrdom. Ignatius  wrote  thus  in  one  of  his  epistles :  f  "  They 
who  were  brought  up  in  these  ancient  laws  came  neverthe- 
less to  newness  of  hope,  no  longer  observing  the  Sabbaths, 
but  keeping  the  Lord's  day— in  which  our  life  also  is  sprung 
up  by  him."     He  warned  them  against  Jewish  ideas  of  the 

*  Heb.  i.  2,  3.     John  viii.  12;  i.  4.     2  Cor.  iv.  6.     Rev.  i.  10. 
f  Epistle  to  Magneaians,  ix.  and  x. 


SPIRIT   OF   A   PKIMITIVE   SABBATH.         119 

Christian  religion.  "Lay  aside,"  said  he,  "the  old,  and 
sour,  and  evil  leaven,"  and  be  ye  changed  into  the  new 
leaven,  which  is  Jesus  Christ.  We  at  once  see  how  from 
these  principles  it  came  to  pass  that  the  Christian  worship 
of  the  Sabbath  should  copy  those  chief  feasts  which  we  are 
told  the  former  Israel  often  kept  "with  great  gladness,  and 
the  Levites  and  the  priests  praised  the  Lord  day  by  day, 
singing  with  loud  instruments  to  the  Lord."  After  them 
the  worshipers  were  "sent  into  their  tents  glad  and  merry 
in  heart  for  the  good  which  the  Lord  had  showed  unto  his 
people."  They  "made  them  daj^s  of  feasting  and  joy  and 
of  sending  portions  one  to  another  and  gifts  to  the  poor."* 
These  great  festivals  were  imitated  as  to  their  most  import- 
ant features  in  the  Lord's  day  of  the  early  Christians. 

Descriptions  by  Writers  of  that  Age. 

The  sore  persecutions  of  the  early  Christians  were  like  a 
dark  cloud  which  yet  reflected  back  light  to  distant  places. 
They  were  forced  to  make  public  defences  and  explanations 
of  their  practices,  which  are  most  instructive  and  precious 
to  us  now.  Two  of  these  defences  were  written  by  Justin 
Martyr,  a  Greek  by  parentage,  who  was  born  at  Sychar  in 
Samaria,  only  twenty  years  after  the  death  of  the  last  apos- 
tle, John.  He  became  a  Christian  and  wrote  several  books, 
which  are  j^et  extant,  against  idolatry,  or  explanatory  of  his 
religion.  In  his  first  Apology,  addressed  to  the  emperor 
Antoninus  Pius,  he  gives  an  account  of  the  way  in  which  the 
Christians  then  kept  the  Sabbath.     He  saj^s : 

"Those  of  us  who  have  the  means  assist  all  who  are  in 
*  2  Chron.  xxx.  21 ;  vii.  10.    Esther  ix.  22. 


120     god's  eule  foe  christian  giving. 

want ;  and  in  all  our  oblations  we  bless  the  IMaker  of  all 
things  tlirougli  his  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  and  through  the  Holy 
Ghost.  On  the  day  which  is  called  Sunday  there  is  an  as- 
sembly in  the  same  place  of  all  those  who  live  in  the  cities, 
or  in  the  country  districts.  The  records  of  the  apostles,  or 
the  writings  of  prophets,  are  read  as  long  as  the  time  will 
allow.  When  the  reader  concludes,  the  presiding  minister 
gives  oral  instruction.  Then  we  all  rise  and  offer  up  our 
prayers.  When  we  have  concluded  our  prayer,  bread  is 
brought  in,  and  wine  and  water.  The  presiding  minister 
again  in  the  same  way  offers  up  prayers  and  thanksgiving 
with  his  utmost  power,  and  the  people  express  their  concur- 
rence by  saying  Amen. 

"There  is  then  a  distribution  and  a  partaking,  by  every 
one,  of  the  elements  used  in  the  supper ;  and  to  those  who 
are  not  present  they  are  sent  by  the  hands  of  the  deacons. 
Those  who  are  in  a  prosperous  condition,  and  wish  to  do  so, 
then  give  what  they  will,  each  according  to  his  judgment. 
What  is  collected  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  presiding 
minister ;  who  assists  with  it  orphans  and  widows,  and  such 
as  from  sickness  or  any  other  cause  are  in  distress ;  and  he 
grants  aid  to  those  who  are  in  bondage,  to  strangers  from 
afar,  and,  in  a  word,  to  all  who  are  in  need. 

"But  Sunday  is  the  day  on  which  we  all  hold  our  com- 
mon assembly,  because  it  is  the  first  day  on  which  God, 
when  he  changed  darkness  and  matter,  made  the  world ; 
and  the  same  day  on  which  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour  rose 
from  the  dead.  For  on  the  day  before  the  (Roman)  Saturday 
he  was  crucified,  and  on  the  day  after  it,  which  is  Sunday, 
he  appeared  to  his  apostles  and  disciples,  and  taught  them 


SPIRIT   OF   A    PRIMITIVE   SABBATH.  121 

these  tilings  wliicli  we  have  presented  to  j'ou  for  j'our  con- 
sideration." 

To  get  as  clear  an  idea  as  possible  of  a  primitive  Christian 
Sabbath,  which  is  most  necessary  to  the  object  which  we  have 
now  before  us,  let  us  look  at  the  picture  of  it  in  another 
of  the  ancient  Apologies,  that  of  Tertullian,  who  was  born 
at  Carthage  within  sixty  years  after  the  time  of  the  death  of 
the  apostle  John.  He  thus  describes,  in  the  earliest  Chris- 
tian writings  which  we  have  in  the  Latin  language,  the 
worship  which  the  heathen  so  grossly  misrepresented. *  ' '  We 
Cliristians — united  in  one  body  by  our  common  faith,  wor- 
ship and  hope — meet  for  prayer,  in  which  we,  as  it  were, 
take  the  kingdom  of  heaven  by  a  violence  grateful  to 
God.  ... 

"We  assemble  also  for  receiving  instruction,  warning  and 
exhortation  from  the  Divine  word,  whereby  we  nourish  our 
faith,  animate  our  hope,  establish  our  confidence,  and  stir 
up  ourselves  by  every  argument  to  the  practice  of  good 
works.  On  these  occasions  discipline  is  administered  with 
all  solemnity,  and  the  censures  pronounced  on  offenders  are 
regarded  as  anticipating  the  judgment  to  come. 

"Every  one  puts  something  into  the  public  stock  once  a 
month,  or  when  he  pleases,  and  according  to  his  ability  and 
inclination,  for  there  is  no  compulsion  ;  these  pious  deposits 
are  applied,  not  to  the  indulgence  of  appetite,  but  in  aid 
of  the  poor,  orphans,  the  aged,  the  shipwrecked,  the  per- 
secuted, and  for  burying  the  dead. 

"  Then  follows  a  supper,  a  feast  of  charity,  not  an  entertain- 
ment for  the  sensual,  but  a  refreshment  to  the  hungry  and 

*  Apologef.,  C.  39. 


122 

the  needy.  To  this  supper  we  do  not  sit  down  till  we  have 
previously  tasted  the  pleasure  of  prayer  to  God ;  we  sup  in 
the  recollection  that  God  may  be  worshiped  in  the  night  sea- 
son, and  we  converse  with  the  consciousness  that  he  hears  us. 
Praise  succeeds,  and  the  whole  is  concluded  with  prayer." 

In  our  study  of  these  and  other  sketches  of  the  primitive 
Christian  Sabbath,  which  are  given  more  or  less  in  detail, 
there  rise  to  our  mind  the  prominent  features  of  the  wor- 
ship which  was  celebrated  upon  it. 

The  Joyful  Character  of  the  Primitive  Worship. 

The  chief  joy  of  the  day  was  its  fervent  devotional  exer- 
cises. It  was  the  day  which  the  Lord  Jesus  hallowed  by  his 
successive  appearances  after  his  resurrection,  when  their 
' '  hearts  burned ' '  with  the  emotions  of  his  personal  com- 
munications. It  was  the  day  when  amidst  their  assembly 
"in  one  place"  the  fiery  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost  de- 
scended,* and  they  were  hke  "men  full  of  new  wine." 
"  We  celebrate  Sunday,"  said  Tertullian,  "as  a  joyful  day. 
On  the  Lord's  day  we  think  it  wrong  to  fast  or  to  kneel  in 
prayer." 

Let  the  reader  try  to  conceive  of  the  sensations  of  a  new 

*  Olshaxjsen,  on  Acts  ii.  1,  says:  "As  the  Church  has  quite 
rightly  fixed  the  day  of  the  Redeemer's  death  uj^on  Friday,  al- 
though the  Passover  began  on  Thursday  evening  at  six  o'clock, 
60  also  has  it  with  equal  propriety  fixed  the  first  Pentecost  upon 
the  day  which  occurred  exactly  seven  weeks  after  the  resurrec- 
tion. .  .  .  Undoubtedly  the  Jewish  Pentecost  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord's  death  began  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  when  the  Sabbath 
was  at  a  close,  and  it  lasted  until  six  o'clock  on  Sunday  evening." 


SPIEIT   OF   A   PEIMITIVE   SABBATH.  123 

convert  from  heathenism  who  first  realizes  the  indescribable 
greatness,  and  glory,  and  happiness  of  the  revelation  that 
there  is  one  "true  God,  the  living  God,  and  an  everlasting 
King,"  and  that  he  is  permitted  to  call  him  "????/  God," 
"which  keepeth  covenant  and  mercy  with  them  that  love 
him."  Then  he  may  be  prepared  to  celebrate  like  the  first 
Christians  that  glorious  act  of  creation,  of  which  the  Sab- 
bath is  the  everlasting  memorial,  which  caused  the  angelic 
witnesses,  "the  morning  stars,"  to  sing  together,  and  the 
sons  of  God  to  shout  for  joy.*  Then  may  he  reahze  the 
happiness  of  those  who,  even  amidst  hunger  and  nakedness 
and  in  tribulation,  lovingly  trust  day  by  day  for  "  daily  bread  " 
to  their  "Father  in  heaven."  The  "hallelujahs"  of  the 
closing  psalms  of  David  or  Ezra  will  inspire  him  with  a  rap- 
ture which  he  never  before  knew. 

"  Praise  ye  him,  all  his  angels  ! 
Praise  ye  him,  all  his  hosts ! 
Praise  ye  him,  sun  and  moon  ! 
Praise  him,  all  ye  stars  of  light !" 

"  Kings  of  the  earth,  and  all  people  ; 
Princes,  and  all  judges  of  the  earth  ! 
Both  young  men,  and  maidens; 
Old  men,  and  children  !" 

"  Let  everything  that  hath  breath  praise  the  Lord  ! 
Praise  ye  the  Lord  !" 

The  Sabbath  was  above  all  other  employments  a  day  of 
praise  to  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  the  Messiah,  who  "made 
peace  through  the  blood  of  his  cross,"  the  risen  and  as- 
cended King  and  Head  of  "things  in  earth  and  things  in 

*  Job  xxxviii.  7.     Deut.  vii.  9.     Jer.  x.  10. 


124     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

he.1^'cn."  "The  word  of  Christ  dwelt  in  them  richlj',  in  all 
wisdom ;  teaching  and  admonishing  one  another  in  psalms 
and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs ;  singing  with  grace  in  their 
hearts  to  the  LoRD."* 

The  heathen  noticed  this  distinguishing  worship.  The 
philosopher  Plinyf  described  the  Christians  as  those  who 
"affirmed  that  the  whole  of  their  fault  or  error  lay  in  this, 
that  they  were  wont  to  meet  together  on  a  stated  day,  be- 
fore it  was  light,  and  sing  among  themselves  by  turns  a 
hymn  to  Christ  as  Grod."  The  following  verses  are  a  trans- 
lation of  part  of  a  hymn,  the  earliest  we  possess,  which  is 
found  in  the  writings  of  Clement  of  Alexandria : 

"Shepherd  of  tender  youth. 
Guiding  in  love  and  truth, 

Through  devious  ways ; 
Christ  our  triumphant  King  ! 
We  come  thy  name  to  sing, 
And  here  our  children  bring, 

To  shout  thy  praise. 

"  Ever  be  thou  our  Guide, 
Our  Shepherd  and  our  pride, 

Our  staff  and  song  ! 
Jesus  !  thou  Chrisfof  God  ! 
By  the  perennial  word, 
Lead  us  where  thou  hast  trod. 

Make  our  faith  strong. 

*'  So  now,  and  till  we  die, 
Sound  we  thy  praise  on  high, 
And  joyful  sing. 
«-  Col.  i.  12-20;  iii.  16. 
f  Letter  to  Trajan. 


SPIRIT   OF   A   PEIMITIVE   SABBATH.         125 

Infants,  and  the  glad  throng, 
Who  to  thy  Church  belong, 
Unite  and  swell  the  song 
To  Christ  our  King  \" 

Joyful  singing  and  praise  should  certainly  occupy  a  much 
larger  share  of  our  Sabbath  worship.  The  fervent  jMora- 
vians  and  other  German  Protestants  sometimes  accompany 
it  not  alone  with  the  organ,  but  also  with  trumpets  and 
brass  instruments,  which  impart  a  peculiarly  melodious  and 
inspiring  effect. 

Christ  has  said,  "As  my  Father  hrith  sent  me,  so  send  I 
you."*  Every  Christian  therefore  felt  himself  and  herself 
to  be  "a  missionary,"  one  sent  and  delegated  to  help  in 
some  way  to  save  a  lost  world !  The  Sabbath  then  was  a 
day  of  ardent  prayer  for  missionary  success,  and  of  triumi3h 
on  account  of  the  mighty  victories  which  were  continually 
announced  through  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon 
city  after  city,  and  nation  after  nation  ;  following  to  the  dis- 
tant West  and  East  the  Roman  arms  with  conquests  infi- 
nitely more  beneficial  to  the  world,  which  caused  joy  to  the 
angels  that  are  in  heaven. 

The  Sabbath  was,  upon  the  faith  of  God's  covenant  and 
word,  regarded  as  a  sacred  pledge  of  a  millennium  on  earth 
and  rest  in  heaven  to  the  bodies  and  spirits  of  the  faithful 
— the  coming  "rests"  and  "sabbatisms."t  The  very  an- 
cient epistle  attributed  by  many  to  Barnabas  sayst  that  "  in 
eix  days — that  is,  in  six  thousand  yedrs — shall  all  things  be 

*  John  X.  21. 

t  Heb.  iv.  9.     Rev.  xix.  16.     Rom.  viii.  21. 

%  Catli.  Epiat.  XV. 


126     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

accomplished.  And  what  is  this  that  he  saith,  'And  he 
rested  the  seventh  day?'  He  meaneth  this,  that  when 
his  Son  shall  come,  and  abolish  the  season  of  the  wicked 
one,  and  judge  the  ungodly ;  and  shall  change  the  sun,  and 
the  moon,  and  the  stars;  then  he  shall  gloriously  rest  on 
that  seventh  day."  Their  ideas  of  the  dates  of  these  great 
events  were  uncertain  and  even  contradictory;  but  of  this 
they  were  certain,  and  in  this  they  triumphed,  that  Jesus 
Christ  should  be  "  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords," 
and  that  the  creation  "shall  be  delivered  from  the  bondage 
of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of 
God." 

If  the  Sabbatic  memorials  and  hopes  so  greatly  animated 
the  prayer,  and  praises,  and  songs  of  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians, how  much  more  should  they  swell  with  joy  ours,  to 
whom  the  glories  of  "  the  latter  day"  are  so  much  more 
near !  The  wonderful  extent  to  which  the  science  of  music 
has  been  cultivated  by  the  present  generation  is  one  "  earn- 
est" of  the  promise,  "my  servants  shall  sing  for  joy  of 
heart;"  "  with  the  voice  together  shall  they  sing,  when  the 
Lord  shall  bring  again  Zion."*  We  have  perfected  in- 
strumentsf  of  music.  We  have  taught  the  young  children 
of  Christendom  to  sing.  W^e  have  gathered  the  sweetest 
melodies  from  every  land,  many  of  which  before  were  in  the 
service  of  the  devil,  t    We  behold  the  heavenly  power  of 

*Isa.  Ixv.  14;  Hi.  8. 

f  The  piano  interests  us  as  the  most  advanced  of  the  improve- 
ments, traceable  through  the  intervening  ages,  of  the  original  harp 
of  Central  and  Western  Asia. 

J  Not  only  are  some  of  theui  from   operas   and  other  worldly 


SPIRIT   OF  A   PRIMITIVE   SABBATH.  127 

sanctified  music  conquering  the  debased  masses  of  Scotland 
and  Ireland  and  England.  Just  so  have  we  also  seen  it 
melt  the  hearts  of  the  heathen  in  foreign  fields  of  labor.  It 
will  be,  when  fully  made  an  instrument  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
a  chief  one  among  the  mighty  means  of  filling  the  earth 
with  "  the  glory  of  the  Lord."  Joyful  praises  are  the  best 
way  to  make  God's  "will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in 
heaven ! ' ' 

The  Instruction  or  a  Christian  Sabbath. 
An  intelligent  heathen  who  has  picked  up  a  historical 
conception  of  Christianity  out  of  the  gospels  distributed 
by  missionaries,  in  visiting  a  Christian  country,  is  sur- 
prised to  observe  a  great  difi"erence  between  the  methods 
of  religious  instruction  practiced  now  and  those  pursued  by 
him  whom  we  claim  to  be  the  divine  and  all-wise  Teacher. 
Let  us  go  back  to  the  New  Testament  and  examine  this 
model.  It  will  enable  us  to  conceive  of  the  methods  which 
his  disciples  followed,  whose  labors  converted  the  civilized 
world  to  the  Christian  faith. 

Example  of  Jesus  as  a  Teacher. 
Jesus  lived  and  taught  like  one  who  had  come  to  deliver 
a  momentously  important  message  to  men,  wherever  he 

agencies  of  pleasure,  but  some  are  from  the  Africans  of  the  South 
and  from  the  dark  races  of  heathen  lands.  The  palanquin-bearer, 
or  coolie,  in  India,  sometimes  surprises  the  Christian  stranger  by 
bursting  out  with  the  air  of  our  child's  hymn,  "  I  want  to  be  an 
angel."  It  is  originally  that  of  a  Hindustani  love-song,  the  words 
of  which  begin  thus  when  translated,  "  There  came  a  Mogul  wo- 
man," etc. 


128     god's  kule  for  christian  giving. 

could  reach  them,  and  to  pity  and  relieve  them  to  the  ut- 
most in  the  little  while  before  he  would  go  away  to  return 
thus  no  more.  He  paid  little  respect  to  localities,  to  edifices, 
and  to  forms  ;  he  pursued  the  lost  sheep  by  the  seaside,  on 
the  mountains,  in  the  cornfield,  amidst  the  abodes  of  pain 
or  the  haunts  of  sinners.  His  sermons  were  only  at  times 
theological  in  structure ;  but  they  expounded  largely  the 
written  word.  Their  language  was  simple  as  a  little  child's. 
He  drew  illustrations  which  would  interest  the  common  peo- 
ple from  all  their  employments,  and  fixed  the  truth  in  their 
minds  by  striking  parables.  His  miracles  were  lessons,  and 
evidences,  by  which  he  addressed  also  their  eyes,  their  touch, 
and  their  wants  and  appetites.  The  form  of  his  discourses 
was  most  often  conversational ;  like  that  of  the  instructions 
of  the  other  greatest  teachers  of  mankind,  as  Socrates,  Con- 
fucius, or  Buddha ;  and  he  encouraged  questions  and  an- 
swers. Their  aim  was  pointed,  personal,  tending  to  imme- 
diate volition,  action  and  results.  He  made  it  a  great  and 
essential  part  of  his  mission  to  exhibit  specimens  of  its 
proper  fruit  by  the  side  of  the  seed  and  the  root  which  he 
sought  to  induce  men  to  take  and  to  propagate ;  there- 
fore it  was  that  he  healed  the  sick,  and  gave  sight  to 
the  blind,  restored  their  hearing  to  the  deaf,  imparted 
speech  to  the  dumb,  and  bestowed  food  upon  the  hun- 

Just  what  Jesus  did  the  apostles  and  disciples  copied. 
So  did  also  several  succeeding  generations  of  Christians. 
It  was  this  practical  Christianity,  and  this  preaching, 
which  overcame  every  obstacle  to  its  progress.  Is  it  too 
much  to  say  that,  if  it  had  been  persevered  in,  the  gos- 


SPIRIT   OF   A   PRIMITIVE   SABBATH.         129 

pel  would  long  before  this  time  have  overcome  all  the  pow- 
ers of  the  world  ? 

The  public  duties  of  the  Sabbath  day  were  performed  at 
various  times  of  the  day.  Pliny  says:  "They  separated 
and  came  together  again."  Those  duties  which  came  later 
clustered  about  the  communion  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and 
the  agape^  or  "feast  of  charity,"  and  the  exercise  of  the 
duties  connected  with  them. 

It  would  be  a  natural  thought  to  Paul,  in  shaping  an 
epistle  to  a  church,  such  as  that  to  the  Romans,  or  Ephe- 
sians,  or  Colossians,  to  conform  the  order  of  subjects  some- 
what to  that  which  was  familiar  in  the  exercises  of  a  Chris- 
tian Sabbath.  An  epistle  of  his  may  thus  be  to  us  the 
representation  of  such  a  holy  day  in  the  apostolic  age. 
We  trace  successively  in  it  the  abundant  prayers  and  praises, 
the  doctrinal  instruction,  the  practical  exhortations,  and 
the  closing  individual  salutations  and  communications. 

Employment  of  Sunday  Afternoon  and   Evening. 

This  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of  a  subject  which  is 
very  important  to  the  Christian  Church  of  this  age  :  What 
is  the  proper  employment  of  Sunday  afternoon  and  even- 
ing? 

To  the  early  Christians  this  was  the  most  practically  de- 
lightful part  of  the  day :  to  Christians  now  it  is  the  oppo- 
site. It  is  now  a  repetition  of  the  morning  worship.  Or 
it  is  an  hour  for  "popular"  and  questionable  themes.  It 
is  attended  with  reluctance  by  great  numbers.  In  some 
churches  the  proper  membership  and  families  give  place 
almost  entirely  to  strangers.  There  have  been  many  dis- 
9 


130     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

cussions  as  to  what  to  do  with  Sunday  afternoon.  Some  of 
the  most  excellent  ministers  have  seriously  considered  and 
spoken  of  the  propriety  of  dropping  the  second  public  ser- 
vice, and  turning  the  time  to  as  much  advantage  as  possible 
in  the  Sabbath-school,  in  fliuiily  religious  duties,  and  in 
private  religious  exercises.  But  God  hath  provided  some 
better  thing  for  us.  "  This  is  the  day  which  the  Lord  hath 
made :  we  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it."  *  If  the  founders 
of  our  faith  are  worthy  to  be  accepted  as  our  guides,  it  is 
manifest  that  the  Sabbath  afternoon  and  evening  are  the 
fitting  times  for  the  consideration  of  the  great  practical  du- 
ties of  Christianity,  and  for  some  measure  of  performance 

of  them. 

Appropriate  Themes. 

Our  subject  at  present  is  the  instruction  of  the  Christian 
Sabbath.  Let  lis  suppose  a  pastor  to  be  thoroughly  im- 
bued with  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ  and  of  the  apostles  and 
sincerely  desirous,  for  the  glory  of  Christ,  for  the  spread  of 
the  gospel  in  all  the  world,  and  for  sinning  and  suffering 
men's  sake,  thoroughly  to  awaken  and  educate  his  con- 
gregation to  pray  and  work  and  give  ;  then  how  boundless 
the  range  and  variety  of  topics  suitable,  if  intelligently  and 
spiritually  presented,  for  Sabbath  afternoon  exercises.  How 
many  are  there  that  he  may,  with  God's  help,  turn  to  the 
most  practical  "charitable"  ends. 

1.  There  are  scripture  themes.     The  glory  of  God  as  the 

Ci'cator  of  all.     The  glory  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ.     The 

life  of  Christ  on  earth.    The  offices  of  Christ.  The  atonement 

of  Christ.     The  peisonality,  offices,  and  influences  of  the 

<y  Ps,  cxviii.  24, 


SPIRIT   OF   A   PRIMITIVE   SABBATH.  131 

Holy  Spirit.  The  three  dispensations.  The  niillennium. 
The  providence  of  God  over  the  human  race.  The  proph- 
ecies collectively;  in  particular  books;  those  referring  to 
different  lands;  to  particular  subjects; -modern  fulfillment. 
Missionary  influence  of  Judaism.  The  ten  commandments. 
The  lives  and  labors  of  different  apostles.  Topics  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  The  Lord's  Supper.  Baptism.  The  apos- 
tolic commission.  Scripture  lessons  on  objects  and  uses  of 
money.  The  divine  rule  for  giving.  Dangers  of  covetous- 
ness,  illustrated  from  Bible  history,  etc.  The  Judgment 
Day,  grounds  of  trial  and  final  awards. 

2.  General  ecclesiastical  topics.  Church  history.  Origin 
and  purposes  of  the  several  departments  of  Church  work ; 
collateral  fields  of  effort  connected  with  each  of  them  ;  bear- 
ing of  each  on  the  great  designs  of  the  Redeemer's  king- 
dom ;  relations  of  Church  courts  to  raising  up  laborers  and 
spreading  the  gospel ;  duties  of  members,  training  and 
spirit  of  workers  for  Christian  purposes.  Enterprises  of 
other  branches  of  the  Christian  Church.  Consecration  and 
employment  of  money  and  property ;  vital  importance  of 
prayer  in  accomplishment  of  all  good. 

3.  Various  classes  in  the  church.  Parents.  Sabbath  and 
other  teachers  and  schools.  Elders.  Deacons.  Different 
associations  for  congregational  work.  Officers.  Duties,  priv- 
ileges, and  opportunities  of  women.  Claims  of  the  ministry 
upon  young  men.  Baptized  children.  Duties  of  business 
men.  Responsibilities  of  professional  men,  and  need  of 
the  world  for  Christian  men  of  each  class  at  home  and 
abroad. 

4.  Particular  objects  needing  co-operation.     Character, 


132     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

circumstances  and  wants  of  particular  classes  of  societj',  or 
fields,  or  nations.  Claims  of  temperance  societies;  total 
abstinence.  Duties  toward  the  suffering ;  the  blind,  mutes, 
imbeciles,  the  insane ;  the  aged  ;  as3'lums,  reform-schools, 
poor-houses.  Prisoners.  Seamen.  Religious  press. 
Special  emergencies. 

5.  Related  themes.  Religious  ends  of  various  sciences. 
Christian  commerce.  Lessons  of  passing  events  in  the 
world. 

Interest  of  the  People, 

To  make  these  meetings  more  interesting  and  profitable 
the  assistance  and  co-operation  of  the  laj'  members  of  the 
Church  should  be  judiciousl}'  called  in  ;  "  if  any  one  hath  a 
psalm,  hath  a  doctrine,  hath  a  tongue,  hath  a  revelation, 
hath  an  interpretation :  let  all  things  be  done  unto  edifying." 
The  gifts  and  knowledge  of  many  may  be  used  in  some  form 
or  other,  to  the  advantage  of  the  church  and  themselves. 

One  of  the  profoundest  lessons  of  our  Lord's  earthly 
ministry  lay  in  his  treating  old  and  young  alike  in  a  method 
which  we,  in  our  pride,  folly  and  want  of  sympathetic  ap- 
prehension, set  aside  except  for  children.  We  should 
arouse  and  fix  attention,  add  to  the  information  communi- 
cated, and  excite  earnest  emotion  and  practical  results,  by 
emploj'ing  suitable  means  of  illustration — pictures,  cards, 
maps,  blackboard  sketches,  articles  of  dress  and  worship 
and  use,  and  written  correspondence.  The  mind  commonly 
receives  twice  as  distinct  impressions  if  communicated 
through  two  senses.  The  aim  should  be  distinctness, 
emotion,  action,  profitable  and  tangible  results. 


SPIRIT   OF   A   PRIMITIVE   SABBATH.  133 

If  thirty  j^ears  is  the  average  of  human  life,  two  thirds  of 
each  generation  are  yet  in  their  minority ;  they  are  the  most 
impressible,  and  the  purest  and  best  part  of  the  generation ; 
the  part  who  are  coming  into  action  as  the  rest  are  going 
out.  It  is  of  immense  consequence  then  to  make  the  Sab- 
bath tell  with  greatest  effect,  in  all  its  appointments  and 
efforts,  upon  that  preponderating  and  most  important  ma- 
jority. 

Hints  from  the  Monthly  Concert. 

The  manner  in  which  the  "  Monthly  Concert  of  Prayer 
for  Missions"  has  been  observed,  when  made  really  effective, 
affords  some  profitable  hints  as  to  the  best  way  for  a  church 
to  spend  the  Sabbath  afternoon. 

The  Monthly  Concert  has  fulfilled  its  design  ;  a  very  im- 
portant one  in  the  initial  stage  of  Christian  missions.  But 
it  could  not  be  universal  or  permanent  for  several  reasons. 
The  object  was  limited — covering  but  one  of  the  range  of 
Christian  and  ecclesiastical  claims.  Sufficient  instruction  and 
variety  could  not  be  provided  for  in  the  exercises.  The 
hour  commonly  appointed,  on  a  week-day,  apparently  de- 
tached it  as  an  act  of  worship  and  duty  from  the  organic 
and  essential  work  of  the  church.  The  persons  taking  part 
in  it  usually  were  comparatively  few  in  number ;  and  they 
were  not  those  who  most  needed  to  be  taught  and  incited. 
The  young  and  the  indifferent  portion  of  the  people  were  not 
reached. 

The  true  Sabbath  afternoon  exercises  of  a  congregation 
should  possess  the  spirituality,  the  freedom,  the  illustrative 
character,  the  occasional  addresses  and  prayers  from  the  lay 
members,  the  practical  tone,  the  money  contributions,  of  the 


134     god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

Monthly  Concert.  But  it  should  be  the  Monthly  Concert 
greatly  enlarged  in  its  scope,  infased  with  a  lite  that  shall 
interest  and  stir  every  class  and  age,  made  far  more  prac- 
tical in  its  aims,  hfted  into  complete  communion  with  all 
the  great  aims  of  the  Church,  and  glorified  with  a  nobler 
and  more  joyous  worship  of  Christ. 

The  G-rand  End  of  All. 
The  grand  end,  to  which  all  else  should  conform,  and  by 
which  all  the  Sabbath  services  of  every  kind  should  be  in- 
spired, is  the  honor  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  One  be- 
holds, in  approaching  an  island  of  the  Pacific  or  Eastern 
seas,  and  even  while  at  a  great  distance  from  it,  the  vol- 
canic mountain  to  which  it  at  first  owed  its  existence.  The 
magnificent  gray  peak,  seamed  by  its  eruptions,  stands 
far  above  all  the  clouds.  It  is  supposed  to  be  inhabited 
by  the  gods.  It  is  the  supreme  object  of  attraction  to 
every  eye  by  day.  Its  fire,  if  in  action,  Kghts  the  whole 
heavens  in  the  night.  When  the  sun  becomes  hot,  the 
clouds  gather  round  it,  without  reaching  its  summit,  and 
form  a  white  and  far-spreading  umbrella,  that  shelters  the 
people  who  live  upon  its  slopes.  The  sailors,  tossed  about 
by  the  winds  and  waves,  make  it  the  great  mark  by  which 
to  guide  their  course  wherever  they  go.  Now  all  this,  and 
infinitely  more — Omnipotent  Creator,  Source  of  all  life  and 
joy  and  comfort,  the  Gruide  to  our  spirits  tossed  in  the 
storms  of  life,  our  King,  our  God,  our  All — is  Jesus  Christ. 
Every  duty  of  the  Sabbath  of  his  appointment,  should  exalt 
him,  and  tend  to  extend  the  blessings  of  his  reign  over  the 
hearts  of  men.     Yes,  every  act  and  word  and  thought  of 


SPIRIT   OF    A    PKIMITIVE   SABBATH.  135 

every  day  also,  should  be  such  as  become  creatures  who  live 
by  his  goodness,  mercy  and  grace ;  and  who  must  so  live  for 
ever  and  for  ever. 

The  Three  Poavers  that  will  Conquer  the  World. 
And  now,  to  keep  clearly  before  us  the  practical  ends  of 
this  volume,  let  us  remember  that  the  chief  ways  in  which 
we  are  to  seek  to  advance  the  honor  of  Jesus  Christ  through 
all  the  exercises  of  the  Sabbath  are  these  three :  prayer,  per- 
sonal labors  and  influence,  and  the  giving  of  money.  Prayer 
moves  Grod's  almighty  power ;  the  personal  labors  and  influ- 
ence of  men  and  women  are  the  ordained  intelligent  agency 
of  God,  on  earth ;  money  is  the  great  material  agency  of 
man.  These  three  must  be  combined  in  order  to  conquer 
the  world  for  Christ  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God. 

Prayer. 
Prayer, — the  sense  of  need  of  prayer, — the  conviction 
of  the  heavenly  power  of  prayer, — the  assurance  of  the 
glory,  and  blessedness,  and  triumphs  of  prayer, — this  is 
the  foundation  upon  which  all  our  labors,  and  upon  which 
all  our  consecration  and  gifts  of  money,  must  be  built. 
It  is  prayer  that  moves  God  !  All  else  is  in  itself  but 
of  man.  And  what  is  man  compared  with  God  ?  Man 
moves  himself  over  the  surface  of  the  globe  like  a  little 
mite  upon  the  sides  of  a  great  cannon  ball,  requiring 
months,  or  years,  to  pass  around  it.  Bat  GoD  projects 
this  ball,  and  innumerable  millions  which  are  immeas- 
urably greater  than  it,  here  and  there  through  the  infinite 
universe,  hundreds  of  millions  of  miles  while  man  is  creep- 
ing that  little  circuit.    And  just  so  incomparably,  infinitely, 


more  great  than  roan's,  is  God's  power.  He  could  anni- 
hilate, he  could  build  again,  the  world  with  a  word.  lie 
could  convert  all  mankind  with  one  smile ;  or  he  could  send 
them  all  to  hell  with  one  frown.  He  but  delays  his  action, 
he  but  moves  slowly  through  the  events  of  our  eras  of  his- 
tory, in  order  patiently  to  educate  us  for  eternity  1  ^''God 
so  loves  "  us ! 

The  chief  purpose  of  this  education  of  the  Church  is  to 
teach  it  to  pray;  that  is,  to  depend  upon,  and  ask,  and 
bless  him,  in  all  its  various  and  numerous  wants. 

Jesus  said,  "Therefore  pray  ye :  Hallowed  be  thy  name  ; 
thy  kingdom  come ;  thy  will  be  done  in  earth  as  it  is  in 
heaven." 

"Therefore  said  he  unto  them.  The. harvest  truly  is  great, 
but  the  laborers  are  few:  pray  ye  therefore  the  Lord  of 
the  harvest  that  he  would  send  forth  laborers  into  his 
harvest." 

"Pray  to  thy  Father  which  is  in  secret,  and  thy  Father 
which  seeth  in  secret,  shall  reward  thee  openly." 

"  He  went  out  into  a  mountain  to  pray,  and  continued  all 
night  in  prayer  to  Grod.  And  when  it  was  day,  he  called 
unto  him  his  disciples ;  and  of  them  he  chose  twelve,  whom 
also  he  named  apostles." 

"  He  went  up  into  a  mountain  to  pray ;  and  as  he  prayed, 
the  fashion  of  his  countenance  was  altered,  and  his  raiment 
was  white  and  glistering." 

"They  all  continued  with  one  accord  in  prayer  and  sup- 
plication." "And  suddenly  there  came  a  sound  from 
heaven,  as  of  a  rushing  mighty  wind,  and  it  filled  all  the 
house  where  they  were  sitting."     "  And  they  were  all  filled 


SPIPvIT   OF   A   PEIMITIVE   SABBATH.         137 

with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  began  to  speak  with  other  tongues, 
as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance."  "And  the  same  day 
there  were  added  unto  them  about  three  thousand  souls."  * 

Personal  Labors  and  Influence. 
What  a  wondrous  chain  of  celestial  promises  we  have  in 
the  following  passages!  "Since  by  man  came  death,  by 
man  came  also  the  resurrection  of  the  dead."  "  Unto  the 
angels  hath  he  not  put  in  subjection  the  world  (or  dispensa- 
tion) to  come."  "For  both  he  that  sanctifieth,  and  they 
who  are  sanctified,  are  all  of  one ;  for  which  cause  he  is  not 
ashamed  to  call  them  brethren."  "  Therefore  are  they  be- 
fore the  throne  of  Grod,  and  serve  him  day  and  night  in  his 
temple  ;  and  he  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  shall  dwell  among 
them."  "  And  they  that  be  wise  shall  sliine  as  the  bright- 
ness of  the  firmament ;  and  they  that  turn  many  to  right- 
eousness as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever."  f 

The  Giving  of  Money. 

This  is  the  third  of  the  powers  which  must  be  leagued 
together,  in  joint  and  harmonious  action,  that  the  whole 
world  may  be  subdued  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  God  acts 
through  man  for  the  salvation  of  man.  Man,  in  the  univer- 
sal co-operation  of  all  the  membership  of  the  Church  to  fill 
the  world  with  the  blessings  of  the  gospel,  must  chiefly  act 
through  money.  Let  us  proceed  to  consider  the  office  of 
money  in  the  Church. 

«-  Matt.  vi.  6,  9.     Luke  x.  2  ;  vi.  12  :  ix.  29.     Acts  i.  14 ;  ii.  2-4,  41. 

t  1  Cor.  XV.  21.     Ileb.  ii.  5,  11.     Rev.  vii.  15.     Dan.  xii.  3. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE  PRIMITIVE  COMMUNION:    GIFTS   IN   WOR- 
SHIP. 

TT  is  strange  to  notice  how  far,  oftentimes,  our  familiar 
-*-  English  words  have  departed  from  the  original  ideas 
which  gave  them  birth.  Thus  the  word  "communion"  is 
now  defined,  in  its  application  to  a  part  of  our  religious 
worship,  to  be  simply  a  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper; 
and  the  word  "  sacrament "  is  but  a  synonym  for  the  same 
passive  reception,  in  these  days,  of  consecrated  bread  and 
wine,  for  spiritual  nutriment  and  comfort. 

But  the  ancient  Romans,  from  whom  these  words  came, 
affixed  them  to  the  ceremony  with  a  widely  different  mean- 
ing. Then  every  city  and  town  was  a  military  camp ;  every 
man  was  a  soldier ;  and  every  woman  and  child  was  glad  to 
help  to  burnish  and  keep  the  sword  and  shield.  Roman 
legions  had  conquered  the  world,  and  the  Christians  were 
determined  that  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  should  also  con- 
quer it.  These  words,  found  in  the  ancient  ecclesiastical  Latin, 
are  among  the  illustrations  of  the  high  and  courageous  deter- 
mination. The  Latin  for  "  communion  "  meant  at  first  the 
"  building  together,"  or  guarding  together,  "  of  a  city  wall ;" 
and  the  "sacrament"  was  the  sacred  "military  oath"  by 
which  soldiers  bound  themselves  to  adhere  to,  fight  and 
sufier  for,  their  leader  and  each  other.     The  word  "sacra- 

138 


PRIMITIVE   COMMUNION    GIFTS.  139 

ment"  had  also  a  legal  use.  It  was  the  sum  of  money 
which  was  requhed  as  a  deposit,  or  pledge,  from  the  parties 
to  a  suit ;  which  was  put  for  security  in  the  hands  of  officers 
or  priests,  kept  in  a  sacred  place,  and  sometimes  forfeited 
to  religious  objects.*  These  radical  ideas  explain  the  full 
Christian  sense  of  the  terms  referred  to.  The  original  state 
of  the  Church  was  that  of  a  body  engaged  in  an  unending 
war.  The  epistles  of  the  New  Testament  abound  in  mil- 
itary metaphors.  And  also  the  writings  of  the  early  fath- 
ers. The  Lord's  Supper  was  not  a  mere  "  feast."  It  was 
an  occasion  of  the  taking  of  a  solemn  pledge,  to  their  Loi'd 
and  to  each  other,  and  of  giving  contributions  of  money  and 
other  means  which  were  necessary  to  plant  the  standard  of 
the  gospel  upon  all  the  strongholds  of  sin,  and  destroy  the 
dominion  of  all  "the  principahties  and  powers  "  of  hell  over 
the  race  of  man.f 

New  Testajient  Meanings  of  "Communion." 
We  turn  to  the  Greek  of  the  New  Testament,  and  dis- 
cover an  equal  departure  at  the  present  time  from  the  orig- 
inal inspired  ideas.  The  word  which  in  English  is  translated 
"  communion  "t  is  from  a  root  which  signifies  that  which  is 
common,  public,  open  to  others ;  and  possibly  therefore  with 
the  sense  of  its  being  defiled  by  that  contact.  The  deriva- 
tive of  which  we  speak  is  applied  to  the  Lord's  Supper  in 

*  These  uses  of  the  Latin  words  are  common  in  the  Commentaries 
of  Csesar,  Orations  of  Cicero,  and  elsewhei^e.  They  can  be  exam- 
ined, with  references,  in  the  Lexicons  of  Freund,  Andrews,  etc. 

t  Eph.  vi.  12.     2  Cor.  x.  4. 

J  Koi.v<avia  {koindnia). 


140 

a  number  of  successive  senses,  which  it  is  importcant  for  us 
to  examine  that  we  may  understand  the  original  ordinance. 

The  solemn  occasion  of  the  establishment  of  the  "com- 
munion "  is  too  well  known  to  require  comment — the  scene 
in  which  the  Lord  Jesus  first,  like  a  slave,  washed  the  feet 
of  his  disciples,  enjoining  upon  them  similar  humble  willing- 
ness to  serve  one  another ;  then  gave  to  them  the  emblems 
of  his  great  and  all-sufficient  sacrifice  in  his  own  blood  for 
all  the  sins  and  woes  of  men,  and  of  their  fellowship  with 
him  in  its  spirit  and  purposes.* 

We  take  up  the  apostolic  observance  of  it,  along  with  the 
converts  upon  whom  the  Holy  Ghost  was  poured  out  at,  and 
after,  Pentecost.  "They  continued  steadfastly  in  the  apos- 
tles' doctrine  Mid  fellowship  {communion)^  and  in  breaking 
of  bread  and  in  prayers."  "And  all  that  believed  were  to- 
gether, and  had  all  things  common ;  and  sold  their  posses- 
sions and  goods,  and  parted  them  to  all  men  as  every  man 
had  need.  And  they,  continuing  daily  with  one  accord  in 
the  temple,  and  breaking  bread  from  house  to  house,  did 
eat  their  meat  with  gladness  and  singleness  of  heart,  prais- 
ing God,  and  having  favor  with  all  the  people.  And  the 
Lord  added  to  the  Church  daily  such  as  should  be  saved."  f 

The  communion  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  then  the  cen- 
tral scene  of  the  enjoyment  and  duties  of  the  Sabbath  day. 
The  epistles  of  the  New  Testament,  and  the  writings  of  the 
primitive  Christians,  are  full  of  allusions  to  it.  We  trace 
in  those  of  the  New  Testament  two  classes  of  leading  ideas ; 
related  to  the  reception,  or  to  the  bestowment,  of  good. 

First,  there  is  in  tliis^  and  in  some  degree  in  other  acts 
*  John  xiii.,  etc.  f  Acts  ii.  42-47. 


PRIMITIVE  COMMUNION   GIFTS.  141 

of  "communion,"  the  joy  of  the  glorious  fellowship  with 
God,  in  each  of  the  persons  of  the  Trinity.  John,  the 
beloved  disciple,  who  lay  in  the  bosom  of  Christ  at  the 
last  Supper,  and  never  forgot  it,  says:  "iVnd  truly  our 
{communion)  fellowship  is  with  the  Father,  and  with  his  Son 
Jesus  Christ."  Paul  says  of  the  communion  of  the  be- 
liever with  the  eternal  Godhead,  "  God  is  faithful,  by  whom 
ye  were  called  into  the  felloivship  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ." 
He  cries  to  the  church  of  Corinth,  in  this  epistle  in  whicli 
there  are  so  many  instructions  as  to  the  ordinances  of  the 
Christian  Church,  "The  cup  of  blessings  which  we  bless,  is 
it  not  the  communion  of  the  blood  of  Christ?  The  bread 
which  we  break,  is  it  not  the  communion  of  the  body  of 
Christ?"  And  even  Peter,  that  had  so  many  bitter  things 
of  shame  and  of  repentance  to  remember  in  connection  with 
the  Jirst  communion,  wrote  "to  the  strangers  scattered" 
abroad,  often  by  persecution,  ""Rejoice,  inasmuch  as  ye 
[share  in  communion)  are  partnhersi  of  Chi-ist's  sufferings, 
that,  when  his  glory  shall  be  revealed,  ye  may  be  glad  also 
with  exceeding  joy."  This  communion  was  styled  that 
[the  fellowship)  "of  the  Spirit."  And  the  joyful  scenes  of 
the  Sabbath  were  closed  with  the  solemn  benediction,  which 
invoked  the  continued  grace  of  the  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  the 
love  of  the  Father  and  "  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost " 
to  "be  with"  them  "all."* 

Practical  Communion  of  Christians. 
Next,  without  dwelling  upon  them,  the  uses  of  the  word 
*1  John  i.  3.     1   Cor.  i.  9;    x.  10.     1   Pet.  iv.  13.     Phil.  ii.  1. 
2  Cor.  xiii.  II. 


142     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

"communion"  as  gathering  about  the  employments  and 
associations  on  the  Sabbath  may  be  studied  from  various 
passages.  Paul  recalls  how,  when  he  was  recognized  as  an 
apostle,  "James  and  Cephas  (Peter)  and  John"  "gave  me 
and  Barnabas  the  right  hand  of  {communion)  fellowship." 
He  writes  to  the  PhiHppians,  "  I  thank  Grod  for  your  {co7n- 
munion)  fellowship  in  the  gospel."  He  warns  the  vain 
Corinthians  against  brotherly  associations  and  family  con- 
nections with  unbelievers ;  "  for  what  communion  hath  light 
with  darkness?" — "ye  are  the  temple  of  the  living  God." 
John  admonishes  "the  elect  lady,"  "receive  not  into  j'^our 
house"  one  who  rejects  Christ,  "neither  bid  him  God 
speed ;  for  he  that  biddeth  him  God  speed  is  partaker  (as 
if  in  a  communion)  of  his  evil  deeds."* 

The  exercises  of  the  Lord's  Supper  were  followed,  either 
directly  or  at  a  later  hour  of  the  day,  by  the  "  Feast  of 
charity."  This  was  a  regular  part  of  the  Sabbath  employ- 
ment. It  was  in  accordance  with  the  idea  of  the  Sabbath  as 
a  Jewish  "  festival."  It  was  in  the  spirit  of  the  commemo- 
ration of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  of  his  teaching, 
"  When  thou  makest  a  feast  call  the  poor,  the  maimed,  the 
lame,  the  blind,  and  thou  shalt  be  blessed  ;  for  they  cannot 
recompense  thee,  for  thou  shalt  be  recompensed  at  the 
resurrection  of  the  just."  These  feasts  gave  opportunity 
for  inquiries  into  the  wants  of  the  suffering,  for  counsels 
together  in  regard  to  charitable  efforts  and  enterprises,  and, 
the  early  historians  tell  us,  for  the  reconciliation  of  differ- 
ences among  themselves.  They  were  also  joyful  occasions 
of  fj-aternal  religious  intercourse.     Yet  they  were  not  witli- 

■s  Gal.  ii.  9.     Phil.  i.  3.     2  Cor.  vi.  14-16.     2  John  11. 


PRIMITIVE   COMMUNION   GIFTS.  143 

out  some  dangers  to  the  Christians  ;  partly  from  those  who 
misconceived  and  abused  their  opportunities  and  freedom, 
and  became  dark  "spots"  upon  them."^ 

Thus  it  is  evident  that  the  enjoyments  and  associations 
of  which  the  Lord's  Supper  was  the  centre  in  the  ancient 
Church  made  the  idea  of  "communion"  a  verj'  precious 
and  potent  one  in  the  Christian  mind. 

We  must  not  carry  this  interpretation  too  far.  We  would 
not  infer  that  the  word  "  communion,"  in  the  passages  which 
have  been  quoted,  necessarily  implies  that  all  the  spirit  of 
piety  and  works  of  love  to  which  they  refer  were  connected 
only  with  the  Lord's  Supper,  nor,  further,  that  this  ordi- 
nance is  to  be  celebrated  every  Sabbath  day  now.  But  they 
do  imply  that  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  "Feasts  of  charity," 
and  the  other  associated  exercises  of  the  ancient  Sabbath, 
were  the  best  type,  and  the  chief  source,  and  the  most  com- 
mon occasion  of  these  feelings  and  works.  Or,  to  go  back 
to  the  foundation  of  all,  these  do  spring  from  the  great  joy 
of  the  fact  of  which  they  are  the  memorial — that  Jesus,  who 
was  crucified  and  slain,  God  hath  raised  and  made  to  sit  on 
his  throne,  and  that  as  the  divine  Head  of  the  Church  he 
bestows  all  heavenly  gifts  upon  men. 

The  Oriental  Ideas  of  Honorary  Gifts. 
It  often  surprises  reading  paople  to  notice  how  difficult  it 
appears  to  be  for  us  to  convince  the  nations  of  the  East  that 
we  people  of  America  and  Europe  are  not  "barbarians." 
This  is  argued  in  state  papers ;  it  is  insisted  upon  in  friendly 
discussions  of  merchants  and  missionaries.  Yet  there  we 
*  Luke  xiv.  13.     Judc  12.     2  Pet.  ii.  12. 


144     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

stand,  before  those  whom  we  know  are  far  beneath  us  in 
knowledge,  in  power,  and  in  religious  advantages,  occupying 
the  humiliating  position  of  defence  in  the  question  whether 
we  ourselves  possess  the  first  elements  of  civilization.  The 
Oriental  grants  that  we  have  a  wolfish  or  serpent-like  fac- 
ulty of  burrowing  into  the  earth,  discovering  mines  of  the 
metals  and  coal,  and  utilizing  in  the  most  wonderful  way 
material  substances  for  selfish  and  gross  ends ;  and  that  we 
possess  demon-like  jDOwers  of  warfare  and  destruction.  He 
may  discern  that  we  have  some  stern  and  severe  moral  vir- 
tues, such  as  truthfulness  and  impartiality  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice.  And  yet  he  judges  us  uncivilized.  He 
understands,  in  our  Scriptures,  the  deep  deference  and  con- 
sideration of  the  seven  days'  silence  of  the  friends  of  the 
smitten  Job;  we  do  not.  He  appreciates  Mary's  kissing 
Jesus'  feet,  and  bathing  them  in  tears,  and  breaking  a  pre- 
cious vase  of  most  costly  aromatic  oil,  bought  from  many  a 
year's  small  savings,  to  anoint  them  ;  ive  do  not.  He  com- 
prehends that  the  commission  of  Babj'lonish  sages  or  priests 
which  visited  Palestine,  to  ascertain  the  locality  and  circum- 
stances of  the  birth  of  the  long-expected  "  King  of  the 
Jews,"  could  not  have  come  thither  without  a  rich  and 
appropriate  oblation  of  "gold,  frankincense,  and  myrrh;" 
we  do  not.  The  sentiments,  sympathies,  forms,  and  espe- 
cially the  becoming  material  representations,  of  profound  re- 
spect for  authority,  for  age,  for  superior  wisdom,  for  sanc- 
tity, which  fill  the  book  which  we  call  our  Bible,  but  that  is 
only  half  ours  as  to  either  our  understanding  or  obedience, 
all  are  but  natural  and  customary  to  him.  The  substantial 
manifestation  of  professions  of  affection  and  honor  in  suit- 


PRIMITIVE   COMMUNION   GIFTS.  145 

able  gifts  is  with  him  necessary  and  indispensable.  The 
people  who  do  not  comprehend  and  practice  such  usages  of 
the  great  nations  and  most  ancient  homes  of  mankind  in 
the  Old  World  he  looks  upon  as  ignorant,  avaricious,  rude 
"barbarians,"  savages  that  need  to  be  taught  and  made  to 
perform  the  requirements  of  the  respect  which  is  due  to 
fellows  or  to  superiors.  Now  it  is  these  natural,  these 
sound,  these  admirable,  these  ancient  and  everlasting  prin- 
ciples, that  underlie  as  foundations  some  of  the  duties 
which  the  vagrant  character  of  our  ancestry  for  thousands 
of  years,  which  our  distribution  to  "  the  ends  of  the  world," 
and  which  the  debasing  necessities  of  our  laborious  coloni- 
zation and  primary  cultivation  of  a  new  and  unknown  con- 
tinent, have  caused  us  to  forget. 

We  cannot  understand  the  Bible,  we  cannot  perform  the 
mutual  duties  of  Christians,  we  cannot  comprehend  the  ap- 
pointments of  Infinite  Wisdom,  Majesty  and  Love,  for  the 
guidance  of  the  Church  in  its  plans  to  regenerate  and  en- 
noble our  fallen  race,  until  we  do  thoroughly  inquire  into 
the  religious  significance  of  gifts.  And  until  the  Church, 
here  and  everywhere,  puts  into  practice  the  principles  and 
obligations  of  Scripture  as  to  regular,  frequent,  generous  and 
loving  gifts,  as  God  hath  prospered,  and  as  Christ's  king- 
dom needs  for  its  beneficent  purposes,  we  must  continue  to 
witness  the  same  terrible  state  of  darkness  and  death  in  the 
world,  the  same  want  of  the  moving  of  the  Divine  Spirit 
through  the  moral  chaos,  though  that  omnipotent  Spirit 
could  in  a  breath  cause  all  to  be  glorious  wfth  creative 
light,  and  the  same  dominion  of  hell  on  earth  which  has 
existed  for  so  many  ages  past. 
10 


146 


Gifts  of  Sabbath  Worship  and  Communion. 

With  some  conception  of  the  office  and  importance  of 
gifts  in  the  Oriental  and  Scriptural  light,  we  are  prei)ared  to 
recognize  their  place  in  the  original  "communion"  of  Chris- 
tians. The  material  gift  is  to  the  Eastern  mind  the  highest 
expression  of  sincere  love  and  honor.  The  grand  festivals 
of  the  ancient  Church  were  forbidden  to  those  who  brought 
none  ;  and  they  were  required  to  be  proportioned  to  the 
abundance  and  position  of  the  person  offering:  "They 
shall  not  appear  before  the  Lord  empty :  every  man  shall 
give  as  he  is  able,  according  to  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  thy 
God,  which  he  hath  given  thee."*  And  now,  amidst  those 
scenes  of  glorious  and  joyful  fellowship  with  God,  and 
testimonies  from  all  the  world  of  the  swift  and  powerful 
triumphs  of  his  kingdom,  and  happy  and  affectionate  fellow- 
ship of  believers,  gifts,  various  gifts,  large  gifts,  loving  and 
expressive  gifts,  were  poured  in. 

It  was  not  "communism."  That  is  the  opposite  in  its 
nature.  The  indiscriminate  swinish  use  of  property  and  its 
products  is  to  be  "common"  in  its  other  and  evil  sense  of 
' '  unclean. ' '  And  uncleanness  of  morals,  of  family  relations, 
of  social  habits,  and  of  name,  is  its  necessary  result.  The 
charity  of  the  Christians  under  the  inspiration  of  Pentecost 
was  one  which  maintained  its  natural  rights.  Joses,  sur- 
named  Barnabas,  was  honorably  praised  for  his  liberality  in 
selling  land,  we  know  not  what  share  of  his  possessions,  and 
giving  the  proceeds  to  the  apostles  for  public  uses ;  Ananias 
and  Sapphira  were  smitten  of  God  for  falsely  pretending  to 
■=«-^Dout.  xvi.  IG.  17. 


PRIMITIVE  com:iunion  gifts.  147 

pivo  what  was  their  "  own,"  and  "  after  it  was  sold  "  was  in 
their  own  power."*  The  Christians  fulfilled  the  Saviour's 
command,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  This 
love  made  them  count  as  common  the  things  which  could 
make  each  other  more  useful  or  more  happy,  just  in  the 
same  sense  as  do  among  each  other  the  brothers  and  sisters 
of  an  affectionate,  pure  and  true-hearted  family.  This  is 
the  spirit  of  the  New  Testament  in  all  its  parts. 

The  first  and  most  profound  thought  of  the  gifts  which 
the  Christian  brought  to  the  house  of  God  was  that  it  was 
an  offering  to  Christ,  his  mo.st  glorious  King.  "Because 
of  thy  temple  at  Jerusalem,"  thy  manifestation  to  men, 
"shall  kings  bring  presents  unto  thee."  "The  kings  of 
Tarshish  and  the  isles  shall  bring  presents.  The  kings  of 
Sheba  and  Seba  shall  offer  gifts."  "  Princes  shall  come  out 
of  Egypt ;  Ethiopia  shall  stretch  out  her  hands  unto  God. 
Rebuke  thou  the  company  of  spearmen,  till  every  one  sub- 
mit himself  with  gifts."  Many  of  these  offerings  were 
'"''devotional  f  a  word  which,  hke  others  of  which  we  have 
before  spoken,  has  been  degraded  into  the  sense  of  mere 
beggarly  supplication.  It  means  properly  what  the  psalm 
says  of  the  thankful  tribute  which  we  owe  for  benefits  and 
deliverances :  "  Vow,  and  pay  unto  the  Lord  your  God ;  let 
all  that  be  round  about  him  bring  presents  unto  him  that 
ought  to  be  feared."! 

Ideas  of  Commentators. 

This  association  of  reverence  and  duty  is  the  one  which 

*  Acts  V.  1-11. 

I  Ps.  Ixxvi.  11  and  Psalms  Ixviii.  and  Ixxii. 


148     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

requires  special  consideration  in  the  passage  in  the  epistle 
which  contains  the  inspired  Rule  for  Christian  Giving. 
The  first  day  of  the  week  was  the  grand  memorial,  and 
constant  remembrancer,  and  sure  pledge,  of  all  that  was 
most  precious  to  the  Christian.  Chrj^sostom,  in  addressing 
his  people,  traced  thus  the  mutual  relations  of  the  privileges 
and  duties  which  are  indicated  in  this  text:* 

"Mark  how  he  exhorts  them  in  regard  to  the  time  ;  for 
truly  the  day  itself  was  sufficient  to  lead  them  to  almsgiv- 
ing. 'Wherefore  call  to  mind,'  he  says,  'to  what  ye  at- 
tained upon  this  day.  All  unspeakable  blessings,  and  that 
event  which  is  the  root  and  beginning  of  our  life,  are  con- 
nected with  the  day.'  Further,  the  occasion  is  suitable  for 
the  exercise  of  zealous  benevolence,  inasmuch  as  it  gives 
rest  and  relief  from  toil,  and  the  spirit  thus  set  free  is  more 
disposed  to  show  mercy.  And  then  the  partaking  of  the 
communion,  with  its  vast  and  eternal  mysteries,  itself  in- 
spires a  spirit  of  great  zeal." 

The  same  observation  has  been  made  by  numerous  mod- 
ern commentators.     One  of  them  says:  f  "The  day  itself 

*■  Homily  xliii. 

f  BuRKiTT :  Ex2->ository  Notes  on  the  New  Testament.  AVords- 
WORTH,  also,  thus  comments  upon  the  connection  of  the  passage : 
"  Observe  the  beauty  of  the  connection  with  what  was  gone  before. 
The  Apostle  had  just  been  preaching  consolation,  to  the  faithful, 
from  the  certainty  of  a  glorious  resurrection  of  the  body;  and  in  ac- 
cordance with  our  Lord's  declarations  concerning  works  of  mercy 
(Matt.  XXV.  34-46)  he  had  taken  occasion  from  that  doctrine  to  en- 
force the  duty  of  laboring  steadfastly  in  the  Lord  iu  deeds  of  piety 
and  charity,  in  order  to  a  blessed  immortality.  He  now  applies  that 
Christian  doctrine  and  duty  to  a  particular  work,  in  which  he  him- 


THE  PRIMITIVE   COMMUNION.  149 

doth  contain  a  special  motive  in  it  to  excite  and  enlarge  our 
chaiity ;  it  being  the  day  on  which  we  were  begotten  to  a 
lively  hope,  through  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from 
the  dead,  of  an  inheritance  that  is  incorruptible.  We  hav- 
ing therefore  received  spiritual  things  from  Christ,  ought  to 
be  more  ready  to  impart  our  temporal  things  to  Christians." 

Objects  of  Approprl\tion  of  Gifts. 

How  these  gifts  were  appropriated  is  easily  seen  in  the 
New  Testament  and  in  the  history  of  the  early  Christians. 
The  all  important  object  was  the  spread  of  the  gospel.  The 
preachers  and  teachers  who  devoted  their  life  and  strength 
to  publishing  everywhere  the  knowledge  of  Christ  were  pro- 
vided for,  by  the  apostolic  command.  "Let  him  that  is 
taught  in  the  word  communicate  {bestow  a  share  of  the  com- 
munion and  common  gifts)  unto  him  that  teacheth,  in  all 
good  things,"  The  converts  from  heathenism  were  so  in- 
structed :  "  For  if  the  Gentiles  have  been  made  partakers 
[communicants)  of  their  spiritual  things,  their  duty  is  also 
to  minister  unto  them  in  carnal  things."  * 

The  poor  saints  received  from  the  abundant  offerings  of 
all,  "as  every  man  had  need."  The  profuse,  unselfish, 
heartfelt  charity  of  the  Christians  was  a  subject  of  amaze- 
ment to  the  rest  of  mankind.  It  was  one  of  the  means  by 
which  men  were  convinced  of  the  heavenly  character  of  their 
faith.  The  illustrations  of  it  we  read  with  the  greatest  ad- 
miration.    They  provided  for  the  aged,  the  widows,   the 

self  was  then  engaged,  and  in  which  he  desired  to  engage  the  Cor- 
inthians." 

*  Gal.  vi.  6.     Rom.  xv.  27. 


sick,  lepers,  strangers  from  distant  places,  support  for  pris- 
oners, the  liberation  of  slaves,  captives,  the  wants  of  persons 
shipwrecked,  the  burial  of  the  dead — in  which  they  lovingly 
added  expensive  and  odorous  spices  and  ointments — marriage 
gifts  for  poor  young  women,  the  transcribing  of  the  books 
of  Scripture,  schools  of  various  kinds  for  the  instruction  of 
the  young,  and  means  for  tbe  support  of  evangelists  in  cities 
and  villages,  and  to  foreign  and  distant  nations  of  the  world. 
The  narratives  of  the  chanty  of  individuals  can  only  be  ex- 
plained by  the  ardent  love  which  they  bore  to  Christ,  and 
their  willingness  "to  spend  and  be  spent"  for  him.* 

Duty  of  Pastors  now;  Need  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Such  charity  can  be  enkindled  now  only  by  basing  the 
appeals  for  it  upon  these  grand  motives  which  belong  to 
*'  the  first  day  of  the  week,"  as  the  monument  of  the  rela- 
tions of  men  to  Grod  as  their  Creator  and  the  God  of  nature 
and  providence,  to  Christ  as  their  Redeemer  and  their 
future  Judge,  and  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  source  of  all  light, 
holiness,  strength,  comfort  and  joy.  Every  Sabbath  dis- 
course of  the  ministry  should  show  to  men  something  of 
their  obligations  in  virtue  of  these  great  relations.  The  first 
particular  inference  which  the  apostle  Paul  makes  from  the 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  is  this  rule  concern- 
ing the  duty  of  Christians  to  lay  by  of  the  proceeds  of  their 
labor  "  as  God  hath  prospered  "  them.     This  most  import- 

"■'•  We  are  amazed  to  hear  the  statement  of  Chrysostora  that  the 
church  at  Antioch  supported  three  thousand  widows  and  poor  per- 
sons. Many  of  the  widows  no  doubt  were  deaconesses,  and  laborers 
in  doing  good  there  and  elsewhere. 


THE   PRIMITIVE   COMMUNION.  151 

ant  duty  should  be  presented  constantly  ' '  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week,"  as  one  of  the  chief  themes  of  the  pulpit,  and 
means  for  the  spread  of  the  blessings  of  the  gospel. 

What  does  a  pastor  or  teacher  need,  in  addition  to  the 
clear  and  faithful  instruction  of  a  people  in  the  bible  prin- 
ciples and  motives  of  giving,  in  order  to  succeed  in  making 
them  liberal?  Just  one  thing.  The  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  their  hearts!  Without  that,  "old  Adam  is  too 
strong  for  young  Melancthon,"  and  the  dominion  of  mam- 
mon over  them  will  remain  unbroken.  Paul  classes  liber- 
ahty  as  a  "grace."*  As  such  it  is  "the  gift  of  God, 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  It  is  bestowed  in  answer 
to  fervent  prayer,  in  his  name.  It  is  one  of  the  streams 
which  the  vernal  influences  of  a  revival  set  flowing  clear  and 
refreshing,  from  hearts  which  had  else  been  all  bound  up 

in  ice. 

*  2  Cor.  viii.  9-16. 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE  CHUECH  THE  SUFFICIENT  AND  EESPON- 
SIBLE  AGENCY. 

THE  starting  point  of  all  questions  which  relate  to  effec- 
tive practical  charity  must  be  the  conviction  of  the  ter- 
rible and  universal  facts 

"  Of  man's  first  disobedience,  and  the  fruit 
Of  that  forbidden  tree,  whose  mortal  taste 
Brought  death  into  the  world,  and  all  our  woe." 

"Earth  felt  the  wound,  and  Nature  from  her  seat 
Sighing  through  all  her  works,  gave  signs  of  woe 
That  all  was  lost." 

"  Many  shapes 
Hath  Death,  and  many  are  the  ways  that  lead 
To  his  grim  cave,  all  dismal," 

"  Some  by  violent  stroke  shall  die; 
By  fire,  flood,  famine,  by  intemperance  more 
In  meats  and  drinks,  which  on  the  earth  shall  bring 
Diseases  dire."* 

The  next  consideration  is :  By  what  combination  or  agency 
can  those  who  endeavor  to  reinstate  righteousness,  obedi- 
ence, peace,  mercy  and  temperance,  and  to  restore  the 
ruins  of  the  fall,  hope  most  surely  and  soon  to  accomplish 
their  end  ? 

*  Paradise  Lost. 
162 


THE   CllUrvCII   THE   SUFFICIENT   AGENCY.       153 

The  reply  is :  Through  the  Church  of  tlie  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.     For  the  following  reasons. 

The  Specific  Object  of  the  Church  is  Remedial. 
Firsts  this  is  the  grand  and  specific  object  for  which  God 
sent  the  Son  into  the  world.  It  was  to  bruise  the  serpent's 
head,  heal  those  whom  he  had  poisoned,  and  restore  to  us 
security  from  his  power.  When  the  Son  of  Jesse  shall  give  a 
"glorious  rest"  to  our  sin-smitten  world,  "the  sucking 
child  shall  play  on  the  hole  of  the  asp,  and  the  weaned 
child  shall  put  his  hand  on  the  cockatrice's  den."  When 
Jesus  "had  called  unto  him  his  twelve  disciples,  he  gave 
them  power  against  unclean  spirits,  to  cast  them  out,  and  to 
heal  all  manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  disease." 
' '  He  commanded  them  saying,  preach. ' '  But ' '  the  sign' '  of 
"the  kingdom  of  heaven"  was  in  the  associated  duty, 
"heal  the  sick,  cleanse  the  lepers,  raise  the  dead,  cast  out 
devils."*  The  Church  is  the  only  appointed  Divine  agency 
for  relieving  every  kind  of  human  woe.  That  is  its  one 
special  end  and  business.  It  is  for  healing,  and  cleansing, 
and  raising  up  the  race  trampled  and  crushed  down  by 
Hell. 

The  Church  sins  against  her  Divine  Head,  she  forsakes 
her  Divine  mission,  when  she  delegates  to  the  State,  and 
when  she  resigns  to  voluntary  associations  and  societies  out- 
side of  herself,  the  great  and  universal  trust  of  applying 
the  means  which  Grod  gives  her  to  the  relief  of  all  the  suf- 
fering of  our  race. 

Christianity  is  bound  mainly  to  provide  even  for  the  poor 
*  Gen.  iii.  15.     Isa.  xi.  1.     Matt.  x.  1. 


154     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

of  a  Christian  land.  Judaism  did  so,  and  does  do  so,  for 
its  poor.  Buddhism  does  so,  and  is  a  charitable  religion 
beyond  all  that  the  people  of  this  land  suppose.  Romanism 
in  a  large  measure  does  so.  Even  where  poverty  abounds, 
and  vice  reigns.  Protestantism  may  do  so.  It  was  the 
opinion,  very  decided,  formed  from  long  and  most  earnest 
and  practical  devotion  to  the  subject,  to  which  Dr.  Chal- 
mers came,  amidst  the  dark  and  reeking  strongholds  of 
want,  vice  and  wretchedness  in  the  old  cities  of  Grlasgow  and 
Edinburgh,  that  it  was  the  office  of  Christianity  to  cure  all 
those  ills.  His  labors  as  a  Christian  political  economist  were 
directed  to  the  bringing  into  action  of  four  distinct  prin- 
ciples :  first,  the  development  of  more  effective  exertion  and 
of  greater  prudence  on  the  part  of  the  subjects ;  second, 
that,  of  mutual  charity  and  beneficence  among  relations  and 
kindred;  third,  the  extension  of  a  similar  spirit  among 
persons  who  were  not  kindred;  and,  after  these  three 
means  had  lifted  about  three  fourths  of  the  burthen,  he 
appealed  successfully  to  the  voluntary  liberality  of  the 
abler  classes,  who  could,  and  did,  easily  complete  the  work. 
He  testified  "although  I  have  for  many  years  left  the 
parish,  the  same  system  is  pursued,  and  pauperism  no 
longer  afflicts  this  part  of  the  population  of  Glasgow."  He 
recommended  to  an  English  parliamentary  committee  "  the 
self- extermination  of  poor  rates,  simply  by  a  cessation  from 
taking  on  any  new  cases."*  The  soundness,  the  Christian 
spirit,  and  the  obligation  to  try  to  give  effect  to,  such  views 
as  these  must  deeply  impress  the   soul  of  one  who  will 

*  Life,   various    Wn'tiiigs ;    and    '* Reminiscences"    of    him    and 
others  by  John  Joseph  Gurney. 


THE   CHURCH    THE   SUFFICIENT   AGENCY.      155 

familiarize  himself  with  the  wretchedness,  and  too  often  the 
filth,  the  indecencies,  and  the  cruel  abuses  of  "charitable 
institutions"  which  are  supported  by  the  State.  "The 
poor  ye  have  always  with  you,"  by  a  providential  arrange- 
ment which  God  constitutes  for  the  moral  discipline  of  man, 
and  from  which  he  exempts  the  brutes,  the  birds  and  the 
fishes.  It  certainly  was  the  purpose  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  that  his  Church  should  not  alone  preach  glad  tidings 
to  the  poor,  but  give  gladness  to  the  poor,  in  the  real  relief 
of  their  wants  and  pains.  This  the  Church  in  America  can 
do  through  the  far  greater  average  wealth  of  her  member- 
ship, and  the  much  smaller  outlays  required  in  a  new  world, 
where  pauperism  has  not  taken  deep  and  wide  root,  or 
borne  its  ever-multiplying  seed  and  noxious  fruits. 

The  Congregational  Organization. 

A  second  great  reason  why  the  Church  of  Christ  is  the 
sufficient  and  responsible  agency  for  the  relief  and  restora- 
tion of  mankind  is,  that  God  has  given  to  each  congregation 
the  complete  organization  which  is  requisite  for  that  end. 

The  organization  of  the  individual  congregation,  as  we 
have  it  pictured  in  the  New  Testament,  was  thoroughly  of 
a  missionary  character.  The  office  of  the  pastor  was  that 
of  "  a  shepherd,"  who  goes  in  and  out  with  his  flock,  gently 
leads  them — "and  they  know  his  voice  ;"  " goes  after  that 
which  is  lost,"  supports  and  restores  the  lame  and  them  that 
are  out  of  the  way ;  and  carries  the  lambs  in  his  bosom. 
The  elder's  office  was  in  many  respects,  which  have  been 
strangely  lost  sight  of  in  later  ages,  parallel  with  that  of  the 
pastor.     As  we  have  departed  far  from  the  aggressive  and 


156     god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

evangelistic  spirit  of  the  New  Testament,  so  we  have  from 
the  letter.     Let  us  look  at  this  under  another  head. 

Office  of  Deacon. 
As  we  have  become  careless  in  giving  the  temporal  bless- 
ings of  Christ's  gospel  to  the  poor,  so  we  have  permitted 
the  office  which  was  established  with  special  reference  to 
this  duty  to  entirely  lapse  in  multitudes  of  our  congrega- 
tions. We  read,  in  the  most  definite  form,  the  constitution 
and  duties  of  the  deaconry,  amidst  the  very  throbs  of 
Pentecost ;  and  see  all  of  them  bearing  names  which  show 
that  they  were  of  foreign  birth  ;"^  thus  indicating  the  class 
for  whose  interests  the  primitive  Church  felt  the  most  con- 
cern. The  deacons  of  foreign  synagogues  seem  sometimes 
to  have  been  charged  with  the  conveyance  of  money  for 
charitable  purposes  from  one  place  to  another ;  and  similar 
duties  of  a  benevolent  or  missionary  nature  seem  to  be  re- 
ferred to  by  Paul  when  he  offers  to  forward  their  contribu- 
tions to  the  poor,  or  the  sufferers  by  famine  at  Jerusalem, 
through  men  whom  they  would  "approve  by  letters,"  and 
when  again  in  the  second  epistle  he  speaks  of  one  who  was 
"chosen  to  travel  with"  him  in  the  performance  of  the 
same  service.  The  office  was  one  transmitted  from  the  syn- 
agogue of  the  Jews,  and  a  prominent  feature  of  its  chari- 
table spirit.  The  ai)Ostle  Paul  gave  to  Timothy  and  Titus 
special  instructions  in  respect  to  it.  It  is  often  referred  to 
in  the  epistles  of  the  early  fathers,  and  the  first  histories  of 

*  "  For  the  Jews  of  Palestine  were  not  accustomed  to  adojit  names 
for  their  children  from  the  Greek,  hut  from  the  Hebrew  or  Syriac 
languages."  Mosueim;   Com.  on  Christians  he/ore  Constantiue,  103. 


THE   CHUECH   THE   SUFFICIENT   AGENCY.       157 

the  Church.    John  Calvin  traces  out  Paul's  references  to  the 
different  employments  of  the  deacons.     He  says  :* 

"The  epistle  to  the  Romans  mentions  two  functions  of 
this  kind.  'He  that  giveth,'  says  the  apostle,  '  let  him  do 
it  with  simplicity :  he  that  showeth  mercy,  with  cheerful- 
ness. '  t  Now,  as  it  is  certain  that  he  there  speaks  of  the 
public  officers  of  the  Church,  it  follows  that  there  were  two 
distinct  orders  of  deacons.  Unless  my  judgment  deceive 
me,  the  former  clause  refers  to  the  deacons  who  administered 
the  alms ;  and  the  other  to  those  who  devoted  themselves 
to  the  care  of  poor  and  sick  persons ;  such  as  the  '  widows ' 
mentioned  by  Paul  to  Timothy.  %  For  women  could  execute 
no  other  public  office,  than  by  devoting  themselves  to  the 
service  of  the  poor.  If  we  admit  this — and  it  ought  to  be 
fully  admitted — there  will  be  two  classes  of  deacons,  of 
whom  one  will  serve  the  Church  in  dispensing  the  property 
given  to  the  poor,  the  other  in  taking  care  of  the  poor 
themselves."  It  was  the  distinction  of  Calvin,  and  of 
Calvinism,  that — unlike  Lutheranism  which  sought  chiefly 
to  purify  the  existing  Church,  with  no  more  disturbance 
than  was  necessary — he  constantly  went  back  to  the  New 
Testament  to  seek  its  instructions  and  examples.  And  thus 
he  adds,  quoting  Acts  vi.  1-3 :  "  See  what  were  the  cha- 
racters of  the  deacons  in  the  apostolic  Church,  and  what 
ought  to  be  the  characters  of  ours,  in  conformity  to  the 
primitive  example."  John  Knox  and  others  carefully  de- 
fined the  office  in  the  Scotch  Reformation,  in  the  Books  of 
Discipline  and  others  relating  to  church  order.     Our  pres- 

*  Institutes  ;  b.  IV.,  c.  III.,  g  9.  f  Rom.  xii.  8. 

X  1  Tim.  V.  9,  10. 


ent  Form  of  Government  says,  "The  Scriptures  clearly 
point  out  deacons  as  distinct  officers  of  tlie  Churcli,  whose 
business  it  is  to  take  care  of  the  poor,  and  to  distribute 
among  them  the  collections  which  may  be  raised  for  their 
use.  To  them  also  may  be  properly  committed  the  man- 
agement of  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  Church."* 

Office  of  Deaconesses. 
The  same  spirit  of  earnest  and  generous  beneficence  led 
the  early  Church  to  appoint  an  order  of  deaconesses,  such 
as  Phoebe,  "a  servant  (or  deaconess)  of  the  Church,"  the 
honored  bearer  from  Corinth  of  the  epistle  to  the  Romans, 
of  whom  Paul  said  that  she  had  been  "  a  succorer  of  many, 
and  of  myself  also."  They  were  generally  widows,  made 
wise,  assiduous  and  tender  in  their  ministry  by  their  own 
afflictions.  Such  were  those  whose  office  and  character  the 
apostle  describes  in  his  epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus.  Our 
pious  Presbyterian  commentator,  Matthew  Henr3'^,  remarks: 
"  There  was  in  those  times  an  office  in  the  Church  in  which 
widows  were  employed ;  and  that  was  to  tend  the  sick,  the 
aged,  and  to  look  to  them  by  the  direction  of  the  deacons." 
The  writings  of  the  early  Christians  abound  with  allusions 
to  the  merciful  deeds  of  deaconesses.  Neander  says  in  re- 
spect to  them,  "Although  women,  in  conformity  with  their 
natural  destination,  were  excluded  from  the  offices  of 
teaching  and  governing  the  churches,  yet  in  this  manner 
the  peculiar  qualities  of  females  were  brought  into  demand, 
as  peculiar  gifts  for  the  service  of  the  Church."  f  They  are 
to  be  carefully  distinguished  from  the  ' '  virgins ' '  who  took 

*  Chap.  VI.     t  //(■6•^  of  Church  in  First  Three  Cent's;  II,,  I.,  I. 


THE   CHURCH   THE   SUFFICIENT   AGENCY.      159 

upon  them  in  subsequent  times  vows  of  celibacy  and  intro- 
duced the  practices  of  Romanism.  Calvin  presses  earnestly, 
in  discussing  the  subject,  the  distinction  between  them  and 
Romanist  nuns.*  The  English  Puritans,  in  like  manner, 
went  back  to  the  New  Testament,  and  "the  godly  discipline 
in  the  primitive  Church ;"  and  about  1576,  in  an  assembly  at 
Cambridge,  adopted  certain  "conclusions"  as  to  worship; 
one  of  which  says  :  "Touching  deacons  of  both  sorts,  viz., 
men  and  women,  the  Church  shall  be  admonished  what  is 
required  by  the  apostle,"  etc.f    The  sphere  of  woman  in 

*  Institutes ;  IV.,  xiii.,  §  xix.  "For  widows  were  appointed  dea- 
conesses, not  to  charm  God  by  their  songs  or  unintelligible  mutter- 
ings,  and  then  spend  the  rest  of  their  time  in  idleness;  but  to  serve 
the  poor  on  behalf  of  the  whole  Church,  and  to  employ  themselves 
with  all  attention,  earnestness  and  diligence,  in  the  duties  of  charity. 
Not  with  a  view  of  performing  any  service  to  God  in  abstaining  from 
marriage ;  but  only  that  they  might  be  more  at  liberty  for  the  dis- 
cbarge of  their  office.  Not  in  their  youth,  nor  in  the  flower  of  their 
age,  to  learn  afterward,  by  late  experience,  over  what  a  precipice 
they  had  thrown  themselves ;  but,  when  they  appeared  to  have 
passed  all  danger,  they  made  a  vow  which  was  equally  consistent 
with  safety  and  with  piety." 

f  Dan.  Neal  ;  Hist,  of  the  Puritans  ;  I.,  chap.  VI.  It  is  curious 
to  notice  how  the  lines  of  a  temporary  influence  have,  in  the  case  of 
John  Knox,  given  a  cast  to  the  subsequent  character  of  an  entire 
Church.  The  bitterness  of  his  warfare  with  Queen  Mary  prejudiced 
him  against  the  office  of  deaconess.  He  says,  in  "TAe  First  Blast 
of  the  Trumpet  against  the  Monstrous  Regimen  [or  Government]  of 
Women,"  "Nature  doth  paint  them  forth  to  be  weak,  frail,  unpatient, 
feeble  and  foolish ;  and  experience  hath  shown  them  to  be  uncon- 
stant,  variable,  cruel,  and  lacking  the  spirit  of  counsel  and  regi- 


160     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

the  Churcli  is  enlisting  great  interest  at  this  time  in  the 
European  churches.  We  are  beginning  to  avail  ourselves 
of  her  peculiar  gifts  and  power  for  the  advancement  of  va- 
rious kinds  of  important  work  of  a  missionary  kind,  both  at 
home  and  abroad.  We  saw  it  in  a  time  of  war;  why 
should  it  not  be  made  still,  and  far  more  largely  and  in  varied 
ways,  effective  for  the  peaceful  conquests  of  Christ? 

The  Office  of  Evangelist. 
When  the  Church  shall  again  rouse  herself  to  the  task 
of  the  conversion  of  "the  whole,  world"  to  Jesus  Christ, 
the  office  of  the  evangelist  will  resume  its  ancient  and  regu- 
lar place  among  her  ministry.  It  is  recognized  in  our  Form 
of  Government  as  one  the  duties  of  which  are  "  to  preach 
the  gospel,  administer  sealing  ordinances,  and  organize 
churches  in  frontier  or  destitute  settlements."  *  By  consult- 
ing the  epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus,  who  filled  this  office, 
it  will  be  seen  that  it  is  an  office  widely  different  from  that 
of  the  pastor.  The  experiences  of  the  home,  but  especially 
of  the  foreign,  missionary  in  this  age  prove  that  such  is  the 
case.  It  is  one  of  itinerancy,  of  superintendence,  of  prepa- 
ration of  the  way  for  more  settled  "incumbents"  of  the 
ministerial  functions.     The  nature  of  the  office,  and  its  im- 

men."  flisL  of  Reformation  and  other  Writings  :  p.  443.  Knox's 
countryman,  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  Marmion,  wrote  more  wisely : 

"  0  woman  I  in  our  hours  of  ease, 
Uncertain,  coy  and  hard  to  please, 
When  pain  and  anguish  wring  the  brow, 
A  ministering  angel  thou  !" 

*  Chap.  XVI.  I  XV. 


THE    CHURCH   THE   SUFFICIENT   AGEXCY.       161 

portance  to  the  Churcli  of  Christ,  in  her  higher  and  "  evan- 
geHstic ' '  aims,  are  well  set  forth  in  an  article  which  appeared 
recently  from  the  pen  of  an  esteemed  missionary  in  India, 
to  which  we  are  glad  to  be  able  to  refer.* 

It  is  plain  that  just  as  God  appointed  completely  all  the 
departments  of  the  former  Levitical  service,  which  was 
in  many  respects  a  type  of  the  designs  of  the  Church  of 
Christ,  so  he  did  not  leave  to  chance  the  arrangements  of 
that  Church  itself;  which  are  most  vital  as  earthly  means  to 
the  sufficient  maintenance  of  its  ministry,  the  education  of 
those  called  to  the  sacred  office,  the  costs  of  its  worship,  and 
the  promulgation  of  its  doctrines  and  the  communication  of 
its  blessings  to  every  creature.  The  efficiency  of  this  or- 
ganization is  illustrated  in  the  wonderful  history  of  the  first 
centuries,  which  records  the  triumph  of  the  Christian  relig- 
ion over  the  superstition  and  opposition  of  men,  its  spread 
over  the  civilized  world,  and  its  establishment  amidst  many 
dark  and  barbarous  nations. 

Why  have  these  Offices  Lapsed? 
It  is  then  a  most  important  question  for  us  to  ask,  Why 
have  these  scriptural  offices  of  the  deacon  and  deaconess 
fallen  into  disuse  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  which  in  most 
features  so  nearly  follows  the  apostolic  model  ?  Is  it  not 
because  it  has  lost  so  much  of  that  humane  consideration 
for  the  classes  to  which  those  offices  ministered  ?  It  is  a 
startling  and  unwelcoiue  suggestion  to  make  against  our 

^-  Prenbi/tcriioi     Qurtrferli/    and    Princeton    Review:     April,    1S74. 
Art.  Vn.     By  Rev.  S.  H.  Kellogg,  of  Allahabaa. 
U 


162     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

own  honored  and  dear  "household  of  faith."  But  what 
thoughtful  Presbyterian  ruinister.  or  church  member,  has 
not  been  smitten  in  conscience  by  the  unconcerned  way  in 
which  we  have  sometimes  handed  over  the  sick  to  the  hos- 
pitals of  the  State,  or  left  them  to  be  cared  for  in  those  of 
Romanist  or  other  churches ;  given  over  the  Christian  poor 
to  the  desolateness,  the  icy  and  graceless  provisions,  and 
the  vicious  associations  of  the  common  almshouse ;  and 
left  sometimes,  alas!  even  the  di.-^abled  and  crippled  and 
friendless  minister,  the  brave  but  invalid  soldier  of  the  cross, 
who  has  worn  himself  out  in  hard  conflicts,  toils  and  trials  for 
the  Church,  and  has  impoverished  his  family  by  his  unflinch- 
ing fidelity  to  her  interests,  to  "the  providence  of  God;" 
or  to  the  consideration  of  the  possible  benefits  of  a  life- 
insurance  company,*  whose  "  policy"  he  has  not  money  to 
buy,  and  whose  system  is  as  foreign  and  inefiicacious  in  Jiis 
case  as  the  thought  of  it  is  discreditable  to  the  fellowship 
of  the  Church  of  our  blessed  and  merciful  Saviour. 

The  conclusion  which  presses  upon  us  as  Christians  in  this 
age  is,  that  side  by  side  with  our  earnest  and  vigorous  efibrts  to 
rouse  the  membership  of  the  Church  to  a  return  to  the  New 
Testament  standard  of  consecration  in  the  matters  of  money 
and  property  to  the  service  of  Christ,  stands  the  obligation 
to  completely  organize  the  Church  itself  in  conformity  with 
that  order  which  the  great  Captain  of  our  salvation  ap- 
pointed when  it  started  forth,  in  the  flush  of  its  first  zeal  and 
courage,  to  the  conquest  of  the  whole  world. 

*  This  is  not  intended  to  be  an  objection  to  ordinary  investments 
by  those  who  have  the  means,  in  these  business  associations,  if  safe 
and  well  conducted.     In  this  light  they  are  very  useful, 


THE   CHURCH   THE  SUFFICIENT   AGENCY.    163 

Superintendence  of  Work  by  Church  Courts. 

A  third  reason  why  the  Church  should  be  the  great 
agency  of  religious  beneficence  is,  that  God  has  ordained  a 
succession  of  courts  for  the  "mutual  counsel  and  assist- 
ance necessary  in  establishing  his  kingdom,  to  preserve  sound- 
ness of  doctrine  and  regularity  of  discipline,  and  to  enter 
into  common  measures  for  promoting  knowledge  and  relig- 
ion, and  for  preventing  infidelity,  error,  and  immorality."* 
These  great  designs  cannot  be  combined  and  managed  by 
any  other  instrumentality  of  men,  by  any  civil  power,  or  by 
any  voluntaiy  associations  of  Christians. 

The  Church  is  a  queen  whose  government  and  offices  are 
administered  in  the  behalf  of  Jesus  Christ,  whose  bride 
she  is,  and  with  the  pledge  of  the  co-operation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  who  hath  made  her  servants  "overseers"  of  the 
work  of  Christ.  She  is  a  "body"  vitally  connected  with  a 
divine  Head,  and  "  the  fullness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all." 
"We  are  members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh,  and  of  his 
bones,  "t 

It  is  then  the  office  of  the  Church,  by  its  successive  repre- 
sentative courts,  to  arrange  the  various  departments  of  ope- 
ration which  are  necessary  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel  and 
extension  of  Christ's  kingdom  over  the  world,  to  superin- 
tend their  work,  and  to  take,  as  our  book  says,  all  necessary 
"measures  for  promoting  knowledge,"  through  the  incul- 
cation of  principles  and  the  communication  of  information ; 
"  and  religion,"  through  the  maintenance  of  the  means  by 

--  Form  of  Government,  chap,  x.,  ^  1. 
t  Acts  XX.  28.     Eph.  i.  23  ;  v.  30. 


164     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

wliicli  it  is  made  effective  unto  the  salvation  of  men.  It  is 
the  Church's  place  to  baptize  and  religiously  instruct  the 
youth,  to  select  and  to  educate  those  who  are  adapted  and 
called  of  God  to  the  ministry ;  to  maintain  the  settled  min- 
istry and  ordinances  of  religion  ;  to  send  forth  evangelists  to 
the  destitute  in  this  land,  and  to  the  unenlightened  and  per- 
ishing in  all  pagan  and  anti-christian  lands ;  to  arm  these 
men  and  women  with  all  the  apparatus  of  evangelical  lite- 
rature and  publications  which  the  age  affords ;  to  support 
them  with  all  other  auxiliary  means  of  reaching,  and  sav- 
ing, and  lifting  up  to  a  position  as  blest  as  our  own,  all  those 
for  whom  Christ  shed  his  precious  blood  ;  and  to  be  a  heav- 
enly organization  to  do  just  what  the  Lord  Jesus  if  he  were 
presiding  in  his  incarnate  form  over  his  kingdom  here  would 
say  to  his  servants  to  do,  in  order  that  every  soul  on  earth 
may  be  drawn  to  do  his  will  ' '  as  it  is  done  in  heaven. ' '  In  all 
this  glorious  round  of  employments  each  court  of  the  Church 
has  its  responsible  place,  from  the  greatest  to  the  least,  that 
the  whole  may  be  thoroughly  vitalized,  energized,  and  made 
efficient  for  the  divine  ends.  It  is  a  grand  celestial  work, 
in  which  an  angel  feels  honored  to  say,  "I  am  thy  fellow- 
servant,"  and  which  the  heavenly  principalities  "  look  into  " 
with  joy  and  delight  to  the  praise  of  their  and  our  King  !* 

To  the  accomplishment  of  this  heavenly  mission  the  most 
necessary  material  instrumentality  is  "  the  gold  and  the  sil- 
ver "  which  God  created  for  the  great  end  of  advancing  the 
glory  of  his  kingdom.  He  gives  the  "prosperity"  by 
which  "every  one"  of  his  sons  and  daughters  obtains  or 
accumulates  any  share  of  it  and  the  property  which  it  rep- 
resents. And  the  Church  can  only  prosper  in  her  earthly 
*  1  Pet.  i.  12.     Rev.  xix.  10. 


THE   CHUECH   THE   SUFFICIENT   AGEXCY.       165 

charge  when  each  one  of  her  membership  contributes  and 
performs  his  part  in  the  spirit  of  that  Divine  Kule  which  we 
are  considering.  If  the  Church  is  beaten  back,  and  de- 
feated in  any  field  of  attack,  it  is  chiefly  because  one  or 
another  soldier  or  company  has  faltered  and  disobeyed  or- 
ders. The  failure  of  a  few  in  some  one  place  has  disheart- 
ened many  others.  And  thus  perhaps  a  great  effort  is 
thwarted,  the  world  and  Satan  rejoice,  and  our  King  is 
humiUated  and  displeased. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PRIMARY  SECULAR  OBJECT  OF  SABBATH  GIV- 
ING, PERIODICITY. 

WE  turn  from  the  religious  aspects  of  the  appointment 
to  give  "  on  the  first  day  of  the  week"  to  those  which 
are  secular.  Here  also  we  may  discern  the  hand  of  infinite 
wisdom  in  making  it. 

A  few  years  ago  the  writer  had  a  conversation  with  a 
well-known  financier,  whose  abilities  and  experience  were  of 
eminent  service  in  developing  the  national  resources  during 
the  late  rebellion,  in  regard  to  the  means  by  which  those  of 
the  Christian  Church  are  to  be  brought  out,  in  order  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  her  great  war  with  sin.  "  The  first 
tiling  to  be  secured,"  said  he,  emphatically,  ^' is periodicili/." 
This  weighty  remark  would  be  reaffirmed  by  every  financier 
and  political  economist,  and  business  man  and  lawyer. 

The  Foundation  Stone  of  Financial  Operations. 

"Periodicity"  is  the  foundation  stone  of  extensive  finan- 
cial operations.  Whatever  the  term  of  the  recurring  period 
may  be — let  it  be  annual,  or  semi-annual,  or  quarterly,  or 
monthly,  or  weekly,  or  by  any  other  equal  divisions  of  time 
— yet  this  is  the  necessary  condition  of  all  honest  and  secure 
pecuniary  business,  that  its  payments  be  faithfully  made  at 
definite  times. 
166 


FIEST   SECULAR   OBJECT,  PERIODICITY.       167 

This  fundamental  law  is  so  vital  to  business  transactions 
that  failure  punctually  to  fulfill  its  obligations  at  once  depre- 
ciates the  value  of  the  stock  of  any  railroad,  or  bank,  or 
factory,  or  community.  Reliability  as  to  regular  payments 
enhances  the  credit  of  such  paper,  in  proportion  to  the 
ground  of  it.  The  rate  of  interest  required  is  increased  or 
decreased  in  proportion  as  it  is  the  pledge  of  a  community 
or  a  nation,  of  an  uncertain  or  a  stable  government,  ujion 
which  men  have  to  depend  for  the  periodical  returns  upon 
their  investments.  Business  men  anxiously  arrange  to  meet 
the  recurring  payments  which  rents,  and  salaries,  and  obliga- 
tions for  the  materials  of  trade  and  manufactures,  neces- 
sarily impose  upon  them.  And  every  corporation,  com- 
mercial or  political,  lays  its  plans  to  provide  for  the  fulfill- 
ment of  its  regular  obligations. 

The  business  obligations  of  congregations,  and  also  tliose 
of  the  organizations  appointed  by  the  Church  at  large  wliich 
are  dependent  upon  the  contributions  of  the  congregations, 
are  in  like  manner  periodic.  Annual  payments,  quarterly 
or  monthly  payments,  and  other  obligations  which  are  reg- 
ular as  to  time,  are,  and  must  be,  incurred  by  them ;  the 
violations  of  wliich  are  certainly  as  culpable  and  injurious  to 
their  public  credit  and  respect  as  similar  failures  of  the  peo- 
ple and  institutions  of  the  world  are  in  their  case.  Those 
of  Christians  are  indeed  more  objectionable ;  for  however 
the  charity  and  patience  of  religious  people  may  excuse 
them  and  submit  to  tliem,  they  are  the  fruitful  themes  of 
scoffers,  the  scorn  of  the  honorable  men  of  this- world,  the 
stumbling-block  of  the  doubting  and  perplexed,  and  the 
shame  of  the  conscientious  and  faithful.     They  compel  the 


168       GOD^S   RULE   FOR   CHRISTIAN  GIVING. 

minister,  the  student  for  the  ministry,  the  missionary,  and 
every  one  who  has  made  engagements  upon  the  faith  of 
them,  to  be  guilty  of  untruth  and  injustice.  They  hinder 
the  extension  and  success  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Thus 
they  are  the  ruin  of  immortal  souls.  They  are  fresh  wounds 
to  the  Saviour. 

A  public  financier  sees  and  strikes  at  the  root  of  the  dif- 
ficulty when  he  says.  The  Church's  expenses,  like  the  State's, 
are  periodic:  her  income  should  be  regulated  as  to  the 
method  of  supply,  and  that  be  also  periodic.  Otherwise 
failures,  disasters,  dishonor,  depreciation,  are  inevitable. 
The  contributions  of  church  members  ought  to  be  made 
"regular,"  that  is,  according  to  arvle.  Those  of  Boards 
and  of  congregations,  which  are  the  clock's  face,  on  which 
the  world  looks  and  which  exhibits  the  results,  can  only  be 
trustworthy  when  each  wheel  and  each  pinion  and  each 
piece  of  every  kind  moves  in  harmony  with  the  end  in  view ; 
all  difiiirent  but  all  punctual. 

Vast  Influence  of  this  Law. 

The  influence  of  this  law  extends  over  all  the  employments 
of  man.  It  affects  usefulness,  comfort,  health,  life,  and  all 
the  great  ends  of  life,  in  ways  which  are  countless ;  in  ways 
which  become  more  important  to  our  eyes  in  proportion  to 
our  comprehension  of  them  and  of  the  great  designs  of  the 
Divine  education  of  man  on  earth. 

Until  three  centuries  ago  the  world  had  no  means  of  secur- 
ing perfect  periodicity  in  instruments  for  measuring  time. 
The  clumsy  clepsydra,  or  water-cloek,  the  sand-glass,  the 
sun-dial,  were  those  which  were  most  accurate.     An  Italian 


FIRST   SECULAR   OBJECT,  PERIODICITY.       169 

youth,  born  in  the  same  year  with  Calvin's  death,  a  student 
at  Pisa,  who  was  disgusted  with  the  rubbish  of  monastic  in- 
struction, stood  one  day  watching  the  regular  vibrations  of  a 
heavy  bronze  lamp  which  hung,  and  does  so  yet,  from  the 
centre  of  the  dome  of  the  cathedral.  He  had  discovered 
in  thera  the  great  problem  of  regulating  time  !  No  subse- 
quent one  of  the  many  debts  of  the  world  to  Galileo  was  so 
valuable  as  this.  The  pendulum  and  the  balance-wheel 
have  now  been  perfected,  so  that  the  astronomer  accurately 
distinguishes  and  registers  time  by  the  thousandth  parts  of 
one  second.  Innumerable  important  acquisitions  in  science, 
and  in  the  arts,  have  been  imparted  to  us  through  this  gift. 
We  can  measure  now  the  laws  of  light,  and  sound,  and  mo- 
tion, of  the  subtle  and  the  mighty  forces  of  nature,  and  of 
the  movements  and  influences  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  We 
mark  the  boundaries  of  land.  We  navigate  safely  the  ocean. 
We  can  fix  exactly,  by  the  comparison  of  the  moment  of 
noon  with  that  of  the  chronometer  on  board  which  retains 
the  time  of  Greenwich,  the  spot  where  our  ship  rolls,  in 
the  Atlantic,  or  Indian,  or  Pacific  ocean,  in  the  tropical  or 
in  the  arctic  seas ;  and  thus  know  also  her  speed,  her 
course,  and  many  of  her  possible  dangers. 

Just  as  glorious,  we  may  conceive,  to  the  Almighty  God 
as  the  work  of  creating  the  countless  globes  of  matter,  is  the 
omnipotent  propulsion  and  control  of  each  one  in  its  course  ; 
so  that  it  returns,  unless  retarded  by  other  bodies,  to  the 
same  spot  in  its  orbit,  after  a  career  of  hundreds  or  thou- 
sands of  millions  of  miles,  at  the  appointed  instant,  century 
after  century,  without  a  variation  of  one  minute  of  time. 
This  infinitely  perfect  government  of  nature  is  the  highest 


170     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

and  most  impressive  illustration  of  his  perfect  moral  govern- 
ment. Its  "  line  is  gone  through  all  the  earth  ;"  its  "  words 
to  the  end  of  the  world."  It  says  to  every  heart  of  man : 
*'The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  alto- 
gether." "  The  statutes  of  the  Lord  are  right,  rejoicing  the 
heart."  "The  testimony  of  the  Lord  is  sure,  making  wise 
the  simple."* 

The  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament  were  not  understood 
until,  to  close  the  Old  Dispensation,  the  Spirit  of  God  was 
poured  upon  the  eyes  of  mankind ;  then  they  saw  their  per- 
fection, and  cried,  "we  know  that  the  law  is  spiritual,  but  I 
am  carnal,  sold  under  sin ;  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the 
body  of  this  death?  I  thank  God;  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord."  And,  in  turn.  Nature  has  not  been  understood 
till  these  "latter  days"  of  the  New  Dispensation  ;  but  is  now 
revealed  to  us  by  the  goodness  and  grace  of  Him  who  has 
furnished  us  with  means  to  explore,  and  discover,  and  bring 
forth  its  wondrous  mysteries.  We  find  infinite  attributes 
of  God ;  infinite  grace  in  Christ  who  justified  us  from  the 
guilt  of  sin  ;  infinite  relationships  of  man  ;  infinite  perfection 
of  duty ;  infinite  prospects  of  heavenly  education  and  service, 
and  recompenses  of  joys,  and  hopes  of  glory ;  illustrated  to 
us,  in  the  knowledge  which  he  is  revealing  through  the 
works  of  his  hands. 

To  impress  upon  the  Church  of  God,  in  ways  suited  to  the 
Hebrew  race,  to  their  agricultural  and  jiastoral  life,  and  to 
the  typical  and  preparatory  character  of  all  their  religious 
institutions,  these  grand,  primary,  fundamental  ideas,  was 
one  of  the  chief  objects  o'^'the  appointments  of  the  Levitical 

*  Ps.  xix. 


FIRST  SECULAR  OBJECT,  PERIODICITY.       171 

dispensation.  This  for  two  great  reasons :  first,  that  through 
the  revelations  to  the  Jews  all  men  may  know  sin,  and  thus  be 
driven  to  the  only  atonement  for  it,  the  blood  of  the  incar- 
nate Son  of  God ;  second,  that  they  may  measure  duty — "Be 
ye  perfect,  even  as  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  per- 
fect. ' '  The  returns  of  the  moon,  of  the  first  ripening  of  the 
grain,  of  the  harvest  home,  of  the  maturing  of  successive 
generations  of  animals ;  the  sabbatic  impress  upon  weeks, 
and  months,  and  years  and  weeks  of  years ;  the  marking  of 
the  eras  of  infancy  and  adolescence ;  and  many  such  appoint- 
ments for  religious  duties  and  ofi'erings,  were  a  ceaseless  and 
powerful  education  of  the  ancient  people  in  the  one  principle 
of  the  consecration  of  time,  in  all  its  revolutions,  to  the  Great 
Creator  and  Lord  of  all. 

The  Christian  is  called  to  "spiritualize"  these  principles; 
to  be  fully  devoted  to  God,  not  for  law,  but  out  of  love  to 
Jesus ;  not  with  the  thought  of  merit,  but  in  the  cultivation 
of  grace  upon  grace ;  not  to  the  exaltation  of  self,  but  to  the 
glory  of  God,  only  and  for  ever  and  ever. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SABBATH  GIVING  REQUIRES  FREQUENCY. 

ALONG-  with  the  principle  of  periodicity  Sabbath  giving 
estabhshes  its  most  important  quahfication,  that  is, 
frequency. 

Necessary  to  the  Objects  of  a  Missionary  Church. 

To  comprehend  this  appointment  we  must  plant  ourselves 
in  the  position  of  the  first  Christians.  Over  the  cross  of 
the  dying  Redeemer  was  nailed  the  inscription  which  de- 
clared him  to  be  the  Messianic  King.  When  he  ascended, 
he  commanded  his  disciples,  "Preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature."  The  first  preachers  cried,  "The  promise  is  to 
you,  and  to  your  children,  and  to  all  that  are  afar  ofi". ' '  The 
first  written  expositions  of  doctrine  said,  "The  Scriptures 
foreseeing  that  God  would  justify  the  heathen  through  faith, 
preached  the  gospel  unto  Abraham,  saying.  In  thee  shall  all 
nations  be  blessed."*  A  burning,  restless,  all- sacrificing 
zeal  for  the  preaching  of  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation 
through  Jesus  to  all  the  world,  inflamed  their  whole  na- 
ture.    They  were  a  sincere  missionary  body. 

Frequent  giving  was  a  necessity  to  such  men  and  such 
women.  They  could  not  help,  lovingly,  in  faith,  joyfully, 
bestowing  all  the  means  that  they  could  command,  when- 

«■  Gal.  iii.  8.     Acts  ii.  39.     Mark  xvi.  15. 
172 


REQUIREMENT   OF   FREQUENCY.  173 

ever  the  opportunity  for  its  suitable  use  occurred.  As  this 
opportunity  was  offered  every  Sabbath,  gifts  were  a  regular 
part  of  the  worship  of  the  day  and  its  accompaniment. 

It  does  not  appear  that  every  church  member  contributed 
on  every  Sabbath.  As  will  be  shown  in  a  future  chapter, 
this  was  not  the  divine  rule  which  the  apostle  gave.  Every 
one  was  taught  to  "  lay  by  in  store  as  Grod  had  prospered," 
and  from  this  stock  to  bring  as  he  considered  the  occasion 
to  require.  And  yet  every  Sabbath  afforded  opportunities 
of  some  kind  or  other,  and  was  honored  with  gifts  from 
many  of  the  worshipers. 

The  rekindling  of  missionary  zeal,  by  any  extraordinary 
circumstances  of  the  Church,  such  as  a  great  revival  of  re- 
ligion, or  a  general  chastisement  of  sorrow  or  of  loss,  tends 
ever  to  inspire  a  return  to  this  scriptural  and  primitive 
frequency  of  gifts. 

Such,  for  example,  were  the  circumstances  of  the  Scotch 
Free  Church  when,  in  1842,  in  contending  for  the  right  to 
choose  its  own  spiritual  teachers,  it  suddenly  found  itself 
deprived  of  the  pecuniary  supports  of  the  government, 
upon  which  it  had  existed.  As  a  Church,  by  one  vote  of 
its  General  Assembly  its  ministry  elected  poverty,  hunger, 
nakedness,  for  Christ.  And  they  were  more  than  conquer- 
ors through  him  who  loved  them. 

The  plan  which  was  adopted  under  the  intelligent  and 
able  leadership  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  to  organize  a  financial  sys- 
tem to  meet  the  immediate  and  vast  necessities  for  church 
buildings,  manses,  salaries,  schools,  colleges,  the  poor,  church 
extension  at  home,  the  Jewish  and  other  foreign  missions, 
was  based  on  "  weekly  contributions,  from  the  penny  or  two- 


174     god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

pence  a  week  to  the  larger  contributions  of  those  who  are 
both  wilUng  and  wealthy."  To  gather  these  sums  there 
were  appointed  an  elder  and  deacon  for  each  district  in  a  con- 
gregation, to  superintend  the  work.  "The  deacon  might, 
or  might  not,  be  a  collector  himself,"  but  should  "at  least 
once  a  quarter  accompany  each  of  the  collectors  who  ope- 
rate within  his  sphere,  throughout  all  the  Himilies,  and  by 
means  of  conversation,  as  well  as  by  the  distribution  of 
tracts  and  periodicals,  sustain  their  interest  in  the  cause." 
The  collectors  were  expected  "  to  give  half  an  hour  a  week, 
if  needed,  or  two  hours  a  month,  to  the  service."  The  re- 
sult was  a  grand,  blessed,  honorable  and  permanent  success ; 
and  it  proved  that  "  the  tendency  is  to  elevate  the  platform 
of  humble  life  ;  and  the  effect  of  its  payments,  so  far  from 
being  to  impoverish  or  depress,  is,  through  the  medium  of 
character  and  principle,  or  by  the  elastic  operation  of  moral 
causes,  to  raise  and  uphold  our  people  in  a  far  higher  eco- 
nomic status."* 

Educational  Influence  of  Frequent  Giving. 

The  effect  of  frequent  giving  is  a  most  important  one  to 
the  experience  of  the  individual  believer.  We  live  in  an 
age  and  a  land  of  "fulness  of  bread,"  which,  as  of  old, 
causes  people  to  forget  to  "  strengthen  the  hand  of  the  poor 
and  the  needy." 

It  was  one  of  the  most  pointed  and  emphatic  warnings 
of  God  when  he  brought  Israel  into  the  promised  land, 
"Beware  lest,  when  thou  hast  eaten  and  art  full,  and  hast 

*  Economics  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  Sec.  i.,  Arts.  3 
and  6. 


REQUIREMENT   OF   FREQUENCY.  175 

built  goodly  houses  and  dwelt  therein,  and  thy  flocks  and 
thy  herds  multiply,  and  thy  gold  and  thy  silver  is  multi- 
plied, and  all  that  thou  hast  is  multiplied,  then  thine  heart 
be  lifted  up  and  thou  forget  the  Lord  thy  God."  The 
divine  warnings  proved  but  too  well  founded.  Great  and 
repeated  kindnesses,  if  unreciprocated  or  unacknowledged, 
ordinarily  excite,  first  gratitude,  then  self-complacency,  then 
indifference,  and  when  the  consciousness  of  obligation  be- 
comes at  length  oppressive  and  painful,  aversion  and  hos- 
tility. 

Frequent  regular  giving  is  a  remembrancer  to  men's  own 
hearts,  and  an  acknowledgment  to  God,  of  some  moment- 
ous facts.  First,  it  keeps  before  men's  minds  the  multitude 
of  God's  tender  mercies;  "1  will  come  into  thy  house  in 
the  multitude  of  thy  mercy."  Then  that  their  regukrit}'', 
so  far  from  hardening  the  heart  and  shutting  out  the  sense 
of  personal  care  and  favor  under  the  impression  of  its  being 
a  "law"  or  "order  of  nature,"  is  a  motive  for  higher 
thankfulness  and  love;  "blessed  be  the  Lord  who  daily 
loadeth  us  with  benefits,  even  the  God  of  our  salvation." 
And  thus  men  are  humbled  for  sin  against  him  whose  "  good- 
ness leadeth  us  to  repentance,"  and  led  to  preparation  for 
*'the  day  of  wi'ath  and  revelation  of  the  righteous  judg- 
ment of  God,  who  will  render  to  every  man  according  to 
his  deeds."* 

There  was  a  tendency,  immediately  upon  the  acceptance 

of  the  doctrine  of  free  grace  by  those  whom  it  relieved  from 

legal  bondage,  and  who  but  partly  comprehended  the  nature 

of  the  "law  of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,"  to  neglect 

«  Ps.  V.  7;  Ixviii.  19.    Rom.  ii.  4,  5. 


176     god's  kule  for  christian  giving. 

Christian  practical  duties.  The  epistles  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment abound  with  the  admonition  that  it  was  a  more  spirit- 
ual "law,"  a  "perfect  law  of  liberty."* 

The  most  ancient,  spiritual,  and  beautiful  Christian  tract 
outside  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  is  the  first  epis- 
tle of  Clement,  of  whom  Paul  so  tenderly  wrote  from  Rome 
as  a  "  fellow-laborer  "  "  whose  name  is  in  the  book  of  life,  "f 
It  was  written  to  these  same  Corinthians  to  whom  Paul  ad- 
dressed the  Divine  Rule  for  Giving.  Clement  reminds  them 
that  we  should  "take  care  that  we  perform  our  offerings 
and  services  to  God  at  their  appointed  seasons,  for  these  he 
has  commanded  to  be  done,  not  by  chance  and  disorderly, 
but  at  certain  determinate  times  and  hours.  Therefore  he 
has  ordained,  by  his  supreme  will  and  authority,  both  where 
and  through  what  persons  they  are  to  be  performed,  that  so, 
all  things  being  piously  done  unto  all  well  pleasing,  they 
may  be  acceptable  to  him.  They  therefore  who  make 
their  off'erings  at  the  appointed  seasons  are  happy  and  ac- 
cepted. ' '  t 

Christianity  is  to  be  Adapted  to  the  Poor. 
It  is  one  of  the  deepest  principles  of  Christianity  that  it 
is,  and  must  be,  adapted  to  the  poor.  After  Jesus  Christ 
was  inaugurated  to  his  priesthood  by  the  baptism  of  John, 
and  appeared  for  the  first  time  in  the  village  of  his  youth 
to  preach,  the  text  of  his  sermon,  from  the  prophecies  of 
Isaiah,  began  with  these  words,  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is 
upon  me,  because  he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  the  gospel 

*  Horn.  viii.  2.  Jas.  i.  25.  t  Phil-  iv-  3.  t  ^'■'*»'  Einstle  to 
Coyintlilann,  sec.  xl. 


KEQUIEEMENT   OF   FEEQUENCY.  177 

to  the  poor."     It  is  a  religion  which  digs  at  the  base  of  the 
mountain  until  it  shall  fall. 

The  institutions  of  Christianity  must  ever  be  adapted  to 
the  wants,  and  employments,  and  interests  of  the  poor. 
Chrysostom,  explaining  our  Rule  to  his  chm-ch  at  Antioch, 
exhorts  them  to  conform  to  the  words  of  the  apostle,  for,  says 
he,  "by  his  not  enjoining  them  to  deposit  all  at  once,  he 
makes  his  counsel  easy,  since  the  gathering  by  little  and  lit- 
tle hinders  all  perception  of  the  burthen  and  the  cost." 
This  method  is  a  constant  incitement  to  economy,  and  hence 
to  industry,  honesty,  and  temperance.  It  creates  warm  and 
practical  sympathies  for  the  suffering,  by  the  weekly  con- 
sideration of  their  claims,  and  of  the  measure  of  relief  that 
is  needed  for  them.  And  the  actual  provision  for  the  poor  by 
the  Church  can  best  be  effected  when  there  is  a  weekly  and 
appropriate  supply  of  funds,  or  of  such  materials  and  articles 
as  are  required  for  the  cases  which  are  continually  brought 
before  it,  varied  by  the  wants  and  calamities  of  common 
hfe.  A  Christianity  which  is  to  run  in  a  continuous, 
pure,  and  refreshing  stream  of  supply  requires  ever-flowing 
sources. 

Secular  Ideas  of  Frequent  Gtiving. 
To  make  the  wisdona  of  this  feature  of  the  Divine  Rule 
manifest  to  every  mind,  let  us  observe  for  a  moment  the 
practices  of  men  in  secular  affairs. 

It  seems  a  very  little  thing  to  pay  a  quarter  of  a  cent  tax 

upon  your  daily  morning  cup  of  coffee  and  evening  cup  of  tea. 

But  the  income  from  all  the  daily  cups  in  the  country  paid 

the  government  ten  or  twelve  millions  of  dollars  a  year  dur- 

12 


178     god's  rule  for  christian  givixg. 

ing  our  war.  It  is  a  very  minute  contribution  for  you  to 
pay  the  one  hundredth  part  of  one  cent  tax  upon  each  of 
the  matches  with  which  every  day  your  lamps  and  fires  are 
Hghted ;  yet  one  factory  of  those  matches  returns  to  the 
government  a  revenue  for  stamps  of  three  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  dollars  a  year.  Thus  we  realize  how  it  is,  chiefly, 
that  a  government  is  enabled  to  make  the  stupendous  out- 
lays of  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  a  year  in  time  of  war, 
simply  by  means  of  loans,  the  interest  of  which,  and  in  time 
the  principal,  is  obtained  from  small  assessments  upon  things 
which  most  persons  want  every  day.  Thus  also  may  fre- 
quent little  sums  be  made  sufficient  for  the  Church's  con- 
flicts with  the  powers  of  sin. 

We  may  see  the  same  principle  made  available  in  numer- 
ous forms  in  the  commercial  world.  The  division  of  pay- 
ments is  a  common  device  which  makes  many  a  difficult 
enterprise  successful.  A  railroad  pushes  stock  upon  the 
market  in  quarterly  payments,  which  would  at  one  payment 
be  taken  by  but  a  few  persons.  A  publisher  sells  a  heavy 
edition  of  an  expensive  illustrated  work  in  monthly  parts, 
which  not  one  purchaser  in  fifty  would  obtain  if  sold  entire. 
A  sewing  machine  company  induces  hundreds  of  poor  work- 
ing women  to  buy  its  machines,  upon  agreements  to  pay  by 
small  sums  out  of  their  weekly  wages,  who  would  not  dare 
to  attempt  the  payment  of  the  same  amount  at  one  time. 

This  is  one  of  the  wisest  features  of  the  Divine  financial 
plan,  wliich  eveiy  Christian  should  learn.  Even  some  poor 
laboring  men  might  be  induced  to  bring  in  the  rounds  of  the 
year  what  would  amount  to  an  average  of  fifty  cents  a  Sabbath, 
"  according  as  God  prospered  "  them.   They  would  be  really 


REQUIREMENT   OF   FREQUENCY.  179 

surprised  to  find  that  fifty-two  times  fifty  cents  is  twenty-six 
dollars.  One  of  them  could  not  have  spared  it,  in  his  judg- 
ment previously,  amidst  his  wants  for  house-rent  and  chil- 
dren's clothing,  and  the  grocer's  demands.  But  at  the  close 
of  the  year  he  sees  that  he  has  done  so,  and  is  none  the 
poorer ;  and  he  holds  his  head  up,  a  happier  and  stronger 
Christian  and  man,  with  the  confidence  that  he  has  made  a 
considerable  deposit  in  the  bank  of  providence,  and  also  in 
the  treasury  of  heaven,  for  himself  and  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren. He  has  made  an  investment  in  the  eternal  promises, 
which  causes  trials  and  troubles  to  be  less  dreaded,  and 
makes  him  hear  the  word  of  God  with  new  interest,  assur- 
ance and  profit.  This  principle  of  the  division  of  payments 
for  good  objects  is  the  secret  by  which  he  has  accumulated 
a  great  wealth  of  blessings. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
INDIVIDUAL  RESPONSIBILITY. 

THE  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  conversion  and  sanc- 
tificatlon  is  to  open  the  eyes  of  a  man  to  see  the  power, 
and  hohness,  and  majesty  of  Grod.  His  experience  is  Hke 
that  of  John  at  Patmos:  "When  I  saw  him,  I  fell  at  his 
feet  as  dead.  And  he  laid  his  right  hand  upon  me,  saying, 
Fear  not,  I  am  the  first  and  the  last ;  I  am  he  that  liveth 
and  was  dead,  and  behold  I  am  alive  for  evermore." 
Thenceforth  he  lies  at  the  feet  of  his  glorified  Saviour.  He 
walks  with  him.  He  talks  with  him.  Jesus  is  the  first 
and  the  last  in  his  honor  and  love.  The  right  hand  of  his 
Lord  rests  upon  him.  It  gives  him  joy,  courage,  power, 
and  patience.  Oh,  how  blessed  to  feel  that  hand  of  him 
that  liveth  for  evermore ! 

The  object  of  the  word  of  God  is  to  make  religion  per- 
sonal. It  is  all  addressed  to  you.  The  commandments 
each  say,  "  Thou  shalt  not  have  any  other  gods  before  me ;" 
'"''tliou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in 
vain;"  and  "  tliou  shalt  not"  commit  any  sin.  Jesus  says, 
*' when  thou  pray  est,  enter  into  thy  closet ;  pray  in  secret." 
"When  thou  fastest,  appear  not  unto  men  to  fast,  but  unto 
f A?/ Father  which  is  in  secret."  "When  thou  doest  thine 
alms,  let  thine  alms  be  in  secret,  and  thy  Father  which  seeth 

ISO 


INDIVIDUAL   RESPONSIBILITY.  181 

in  secret  shall  reward  thee  openly. ' '  Jacob,  the  great  model 
of  prayer,  was  "left  alone ^^  when  he  obtained  the  great 
blessings  of  Peniel.  Jesus  loved  to  pray  "alone;"  to  ex- 
pound his  parables  to  his  disciples  "  alone." 

This  is  the  spirit  of  our  divine  rule  for  Christian  benef- 
icence, "  let  evei-y  one"  lay  by  and  contribute.  It  is  a  mat- 
ter of  personal  responsibility  to  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  a  duty 
directly  related,  in  this  epistle  from  the  pen  of  Paul,  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  from  the  dead ;  it  is  an  imme- 
diate inference  from  the  prospects  of  that  last  and  great 
day. 

It  is  very  striking  to  trace  out  the  most  important  appli- 
cations of  this  same  pronoun,*  as  made  by  Paul  in  this  epis- 
tle. Men  are  prone  to  distinguish  " positive "  from  "natu- 
ral "  obligations  and  duty.  The  former  class  require  there- 
fore to  be  made  authoritative  and  pointed.  This  pronoun, 
translated  "every  one,"  occurs  twenty- three  times  in  this 
one  epistle  which  relates  principally  to  the  "ordinances" 
of  the  Christian  Church,  while  it  is  found  but  twenty-four 
times  altogether  in  the  thirteen  other  epistles  from  his  hand. 
Several  of  the  passages  in  which  it  is  found  bear  most 
strongly  upon  the  duty  which  he  states  in  this  crowning 
rule.  Addressing  the  members  of  the  Corinthian  Church, 
and  ah  believers,  as  it  were  individually,  he  says  "  every  man 
hath  his  proper  gift  of  God,  one  after  this  manner  and 
another  after  that;"  "  now  hath  God  set  the  members  every 
one  of  them  in  the  body  as  it  hath  pleased  him ;"  "let  no 
man  seek  his  own,  but  every  man  another's  wealth;"  ^' every 
mans  work  shall  be  made  manifest,  for  the  day  (of  judg- 


182     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

merit)  shall  declare  it ;  because  it  shall  be  revealed  by  fire, 
and  the  fire  shall  try  every  man's  work  of  what  sort  it  is ;" 
then  as  to  the  resurrection,  ^^  every  ma?i  in  his  own  order, 
Christ  the  first-fruits,  afterward  they  that  are  Christ's  at  his 
coming;"  and  finally,  in  behalf  of  the  great  work  of  Chris- 
tian charity,  ' '  upon  the  first  day  of  the  week  let  every  one 
of  you  lay  by  him  in  store  as  Grod  hath  prospered  him. ' ' 
In  these  and  several  kindred  passages  the  Greek  pronoun 
used  is  the  same.  The  apostle  designs  to  include  every  per- 
son created  by  God,  every  one  who  is  redeemed  by  the 
blood  of  his  Son,  every  one  enjoying  the  gifts  of  divine 
grace,  every  one  living  in  the  world,  every  one  who  is  to  be 
raised  from  the  dead  ;  all  must  give  to  the  work  of  Christ. 
It  was  the  application  of  the  Saviour's  own  words:  "For 
the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  with 
his  holy  angels :  then  shall  he  reward  every  man  according 
to  his  works."* 

The  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  lives  of  believers  or 
in  revival  of  the  Church  has  ever  wrought  this  deep  sense 
of  personal  responsibility  to  God  as  to  the  use  of  the  pecu- 
niary means  of  serving  him  with  which  men  are  entrusted. 
Many  instances  will  occur  to  every  reader  from  the  lives  of 
eminent  Christians.  Take,  for  example,  that  of  Kichard 
Baxter.  He  says:  "My  rule  has  been  to  study  to  need  as 
little  as  possible  for  myself;  to  lay  out  nothing  on  need- 
nots ;  to  live  frugally  on  little ;  to  serve  God  on  what  he 
allowed  me,  so  that  what  I  took  for  self  might  be  as  good 
work  for  the  common  good  as  that  which  I  gave  to  others ; 
and  then  to  do  all  the  good  I  could  with  the  rest.  The  more 
»  1  Cor.  vii.  7  j  xii.  18 ;  x.  24 ;  iii.  12-18 ;  xv.  23 ;  xvi.  2.  Matt.  xvi.  27. 


INDIVIDUAL   RESPONSIBILITY.  183 

I  have  done  this,  the  more  1  have  had  to  do  it  with; 
for  the  glory  of  God's  grace,  he  will  be  no  man's  debtor. 
When  I  gave  away  almost  all,  the  more  came  in,  I  scarce 
know  how,  when  unexpected  and  unplanned  for.  When  by 
improvidence  I  was  led  to  use  too  much  on  myself,  or  on 
things  of  little  importance,  then  I  prospered  less  than  when 
I  did  otherwise.  If  I  had  planned  to  give  only  after  my 
death,  then  all  might  have  been  lost ;  whereas,  when  I  gave 
away  at  present,  and  trusted  to  Grod  for  the  future,  then  I 
wanted  nothing  and  lost  nothing. ' ' 

With  what  anxious  and  pathetic  entreaty,  like  that  of  the 
apostle  Paul,  as  if  in  the  very  sight  of  the  resurrection  and 
the  judgment,  does  Baxter  appeal  to  those  whose  hearts  are 
wrapt  up  in  the  things  of  this  present  world,  and  who  for- 
get the  account  which  they  must  give  to  God.  His  words 
may  well  stir  us  all  to  more  devotedness  to  God  in  all  that 
we  possess.  ' '  Remember  how  short  a  time  thou  must  keep 
and  enjoy  the  wealth  which  thou  hast  gotten.  How  quickly 
thou  must  be  stripped  of  all  I  Canst  thou  keep  it  when 
thou  hast  it?  Canst  thou  make  a  covenant  with  death,  that 
it  shall  not  call  away  thy  soul  ?  Thou  knowest  beforehand 
that  thou  art  of  short  continuance,  and  the  world  is  but  thy 
inn  and  passage,  and  that  a  narrow  grave  for  thy  flesh  to  rot 
in  is  all  that  thou  canst  keep  of  thy  largest  possessions,  save 
what  thou  layest  up  in  heaven,  by  hying  it  out  in  obedience 
to  God.  How  short  is  life !  How  quickly  gone !  Thou  art 
almost  dead  and  gone  already  I  What  are  a  few  days  or  a 
few  years  more  ?  And  wilt  thou  make  so  much  ado  for  so 
short  a  life  ?  And  so  careful  a  provision  for  so  short  a  stay  ? 
Yea,  how  uncertain  is  thy  time,  as  well  as  short!     Thou 


184     god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

canst  not  say  what  world  thou  shalt  be  in  to-morrow.  He- 
member,  man,  that  thou  must  die  I  Thou  must  die !  Thou 
must  quickly  die !  Thou  knowest  not  how  soon !  Breathe 
yet  a  few  breaths  more,  and  thou  art  gone !  And  yet  canst 
thou  be  covetous  and  drown  thy  soul  with  earthly  cares? 
Dost  thou  soberly  read  thy  Saviour's  warning  (Luke  xii. 
19-21)?  Is  it  not  spoken  as  to  thee?  'Thou  fool,  this 
night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee ;  then  whose  shall 
those  things  be  which  thou  hast  provided  ?  So  is  every  one 
that  layoth  up  riches  for  himself,  and  is  not  rich  toward 
God. '  .  .  .  Remember,  man,  that  thou  hast  another  world 
to  live  in,  and  a  far  longer  life  to  make  provision  for,  and 
that  thou  must  be  in  heaven  or  hell  for  ever.  This  is  true, 
whether  thou  believe  it  or  not,  and  thou  hast  no  time  but  this 
to  make  thy  preparation  in,  and  as  thou  believest,  and  livest, 
and  laborest  now,  it  must  go  with  thee  to  all  eternity."* 

It  is  this  deep  sense  of  individual  responsibility  to  God, 
in  the  use  of  the  property  and  means  of  doing  good  which 
he  has  put  in  our  hands,  which  this  feature  of  the  Divine 
Rule  is  designed  to  awaken  and  sustain.  May  the  spirit  of 
Richard  Baxter  possess  our  hearts,  and  his  devoted  liber- 
ality be  an  example  which  shall  influence  our  lives. 

*"  Practical  Theology,  chap.  iv. 


CHAPTEK    IX. 

THE  UNIVERSAL  PRIVILEGE  OF  GIVING. 

THERE  were  great  rejoicings  on  those  grand  occasions 
when  the  whole  nation  of  Israel  met  in  Jerusalem, 
several  times  in  the  year,  to  commemorate  God's  goodness 
in  the  gifts  of  nature,  or  in  its  deliverances  from  enemies. 
It  was  partially  joined  in  by  many  converts,  or  sympathizing 
friends,  who  were  present  from  other  races  of  people. 

But  when  they  went  up  to  the  temple,  impassable  lines 
of  separation  were  drawn  between  families  and  neighbors. 
The  Roman  centurion  who  loved  the  people  and  had  built 
them  a  synagogue,  the  Greek  or  Syrian  proselyte  to  the 
religion  of  Jehovah,  or  even  the  Idumean  king,  Herod, 
who  rebuilt  the  temple,  was  only  permitted  to  enter  a  great 
outer  court.  It  was  splendidly  adorned  with  columns  of 
polished  stone,  and  surrounded  with  spacious  cloisters  and 
porticoes ;  but  the  stranger  was  confronted  with  a  wall,  and 
an  inscription  forbidding  him  further  access  on  pain  of 
death.  His  gifts  must  be  left  in  a  place  polluted  with 
money  changers  and  them  that  sold  doves  to  the  very  poor. 
Within  that  wall  the  Jewish  family  of  worshipers  passed ; 
but  there  the  wife  and  the  daughter  were  stopped  from  go- 
ing further  with  their  male  kindred.  It  was  the  place 
where  things  devoted  and  given  as  oblations  were  left,  and 
where  were  the  treasuries ;  but  it  was  that  in  which  those 

3  85 


suspected  of  leprosy  or  of  ceremonial  uncleanness  were  de- 
tained, and  subjected  to  the  inspection  of  the  priestly  physi- 
cian. It  was  counted  still  unholy  ground.  An  ascent  and 
still  another  low  partition  wall  might  be  passed  by  the  men  ; 
but  they  in  turn  were  shut  from  the  area  upon  which  stood 
the  glorious  temple,  in  front  of  which  was  the  great  altar 
of  sacrifices.  They  might  pray  where  they  were,  and  join 
in  the  chorus  of  the  Levitical  choir ;  but  only  the  priest- 
hood dared  enter  that  sacred  place.  And  still  another 
barrier  was  drawn,  a  thick,  dark  veil,  to  cover  the  holiest 
of  all,  within  which  the  high  priest  entered  once  a  year. 
To  him  alone  was  granted  communion  with  him  that  dwelt 
between  the  cherubim ;  and  approach  to  the  mercy  seat, 
and  to  the  ark  in  which  were  the  manna,  and  the  rod  that 
budded  and  the  tables  of  the  law.'^ 

Thank  God  that  from  those  courts  one  who  had  authority 
scourged  the  money  changers,  and  the  covetous  and  the  un- 
clean, and  opened  them  all  to  be  "a  house  of  prayer  for  all 
people."  "Barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  and  free,"  are  one  in 
Christ  Jesus.  The  middle  walls  of  partition  are  all  and 
for  ever  broken  down,  and  taken  clean  away.  The  veil  itself 
was  rent  in  twain  from  the  top  to  the  bottom  when  Jesus 
cried,  "It  is  finished."  Now  "every  one,"  the  women, 
the  strangers,  the  sick  and  the  lame,  the  priests  and  the 
people  alike,  may  come  and  offer  gifts  and  plead  the  per- 
fect sacrifice  for  sin  to  one  that  is  able  to  save  them  from 
death,  t 

*  JosEPHUS;  Antiq.,  XV.  xi.  5,  6,  7.     Ileb.  ix.  and  x. 
t  Isa.  Iv.  7.    Mark  xi.  17.     Col.  iii.  11.     Eph.  iii.  14,  15.     Matt, 
xxvii.  51. 


THE   UNIVEESAL   PRIVILEGE.  187 

Every  Class  of  Worshipers  should  bring  Gifts. 

In  this  temple  the  gifts  of  all  are  welcome.*  In  a  heathen 
temple  one  of  the  most  affecting  sights  is  the  crowds  of 
women,  who  are  the  chief  supporters  of  religion  in  every 
land,  however  their  rights  may  be  denied  by  the  stronger 
sex.  They  bring  their  sacrifices  and  gifts;  and,  what  is 
far  more  important,  they  bring  their  children,  and  teach 
them  to  lift  up  in  their  Httle  hands  the  offerings  to  the  gods, 
and  then  to  fold  their  hands  together  and  bow  down  and 
make  their  requests  of  the  gods.  They  often  give  them  to 
the  priesthood,  and  cherish  hopes  thence  of  peculiar  favor 
from  heaven  upon  the  family.  What  lessons  this  rehgious- 
ness  of  those  who  only  enjoy  the  dim  light  of  nature  teaches 
us  who  have  clearer  light,  and  thence  higher  duties  and  ac- 
countability ! 

Children  should  be  taught  to  bring  their  glad  gifts  to 
Jesus.  When  on  earth  he  loved  them  dearly.  He  took 
them  up  in  his  arms,  and  blessed  them.  He  told  his  dis- 
ciples to  imitate  them.     He  was  welcomed  as  king,  to  Jeru- 

*  Dr.  Hodge  ;  Exjwaition,  makes  the  following  comment  upon  this 
in  the  rule,  ''Let  every  one  of  you.  It  was  an  important  feature  of 
these  apostolic  arrangements,  that  the  contributions  were  not  to  be 
confined  to  any  one  class  of  the  people.  The  same  amount  might 
perhaps  have  been  raised  from  the  rich  few.  But  this  would  not 
have  answered  one  important  end  which  the  apostle  had  in  view. 
It  was  the  religious  effect  which  these  gifts  were  to  produce  in  pro- 
moting Christian  fellowship,  in  evincing  the  truth  and  power  of 
the  gospel,  and  in  calling  forth  gratitude  and  praise  to  God,  even 
more  than  the  relief  of  the  temporal  necessities  of  the  poor,  that 
Paul  desired  to  see  accomplished.     2  Cor.  ix.  12-14." 


188     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

salem,  by  their  hosannas.  Their  songs  in  many  tongues 
are  making  him  king  over  multitudes  of  hearts  to-day. 
This  is  one  of  the  "signs"  of  his  approaching  reign  on 
earth.  Since  the  Reformation  the  Church  has  taught  chil- 
dren doctrine  by  catechisms ;  it  has  taught  them  praise  in 
music  and  songs :  now  it  owes  to  childhood  to  teach  it  to 
bring  gifts  to  the  king,  which  is  the  highest  token  of  its 
pure  love. 

Woman  should  come  with  numerous  gifts.  Christ  is  the 
Son  of  Grod,  and  the  son  of  woman,  not  in  truth  of  man : 
the  son  of  Mary,  not  of  Joseph.  Woman  sat  lowliest  at 
his  feet  to  hear  his  word.  She  called  for  no  sword,  and 
made  no  boasts ;  and  yet, 

"Not  she  with  traitorous  kiss  her  Saviour  stung; 
Not  she  blasphemed  him  with  unholy  tongue. 
She,  when  apostles  shrunk,  could  danger  brave; 
Last  at  the  cross  and  earliest  at  the  grave." 

If  man  is  the  representative  head  in  religious  things, 
woman  is  the  heart.  The  Bible  is  full  of  the  most  lovely 
pictures  of  the  love  of  God  and  of  Christ  to  woman,  and 
of  woman's  loyalty,  especially  to  the  person  of  the  Saviour. 
And  it  is  this  personal  love  which  gives  true  devotedness, 
strength  and  joy  to  faith  in  him.  Woman  was  first  to  bless 
his  mother  when  the  angel  announced  the  promise  of  his 
birth.  Women's  hands  were  first  to  minister  to  him  as  a 
helpless  babe ;  women  the  first  to  bring  spices  which  they 
had  prepared,  very  early  in  the  morning,  when  it  was  yet 
dark,  to  the  sepulchre  ;  and  to  wonder  and  be  afi"righted,  to 
see  the  two  men  in  shining  garments,  and  to  cry  with  fear 


THE  UNIVEKSAL   PEIVILEGE.  189 

and  great  joy :  "Rabboni,  Master,"  wben  he  left  it  as  con- 
queror over  death  and  hell.  The  heaviest  curse  of  sin  is 
upon  woman ;  and  she  is  correspondingly  lifted  up  by  the 
gospel.  The  heathen,  when  the  Church  began  its  course, 
exclaimed,  "What  wives  these  Christians  have!"  This 
present  time  is  again  an  era  of  woman's  honor  and  useful- 
ness. Her  gifts  are  rescuing  oui'  missionaries  from  disheart- 
enment,  and  arming  them  for  enlarged  efforts.  Now  "let 
every  one  of  you,"  says  the  word  of  God  to  them,  come 
with  her  best  gifts  ;  be  they  a  Samuel,  with  three  bullocks, 
and  an  ephah  of  flour,  and  a  bottle  of  wine ;  or  an  alabas- 
ter box  of  ointment  of  spikenard,  very  precious ;  or  be  they 
but  two  mites,  the  "  all "  of  her  penury.  Jesus  loves  your 
offerings.  The  treasury  of  the  old  temple  was  in  the  Court 
of  the  Women.  Women  have  very  much  to  do  now,  in  the 
building  of  the  spiritual  temple.  The  work  of  their  hands, 
and  their  costly  stones,  and  their  silver  and  gold,  are  needed 
to  make  it  a  glory  in  all  lands. 

"  Every  "  poor  man  should  bring  gifts.  Christ  was  poor. 
The  apostles  were  poor  men.  The  first  Christians  were 
nearly  all  poor  men.  "  Yet  making  many  rich."  Do  you 
wish  to  know  who  were  the  imperial  family  of  this  world, 
and  how  they  looked,  and  what  they  did,  in  the  days  of  the 
emperor  Domitian  ?  Then  look  at  this  strange  and  touch- 
ing picture,  handed  down  by  Eusebius,  and  take  courage,  thou 
poor  man,  from  it.  The  historian  thus  describes  their  ar- 
raignment before  the  Roman  emperor:^  "Of  the  family 
of  the  Lord  there  were  yet  living  the  grandchildren  of 

*  Eccles.  Hist.,  iii.  He  quotes  from  a  still  earlier  writer,  Hege- 
eippus. 


193 

Jude,  called  the  brother  of  our  Lord  according  to  the  flesh. 
These  persons  were  reported  to  the  government  as  being  of 
the  family  of  David,  and  were  brought  to  Domitian  by  the 
officers  appointed  to  enlist  the  people ;  for  this  emperor 
was  as  fearful  in  regard  to  the  appearance  of  Christ  as 
Herod  was.  He  put  to  them  the  question  whether  they 
were  of  David's  race?  They  confessed  that  they  were. 
He  then  asked  them  what  possessions  they  had,  or  how 
much  money  ?  Both  of  them  answered,  that  they  possessed 
between  them  the  value  of  only  about  nine  thousand  silver 
pence  ;*  and  that  this  they  had  not  in  silver,  but  in  a  piece 
of  land  containing  only  thirty-nine  acres,  from  which  they 
raised  the  amount  needed  for  their  taxes,  and  supported 
themselves,  by  their  own  labor.  Then  they  also  began  to 
show  their  hands,  and  exhibited  the  firmness  of  their  bodies, 
and  the  callous  places  formed  on  their  hands  by  incessant 
toil,  as  the  evidence  that  they  were  laboring  men.  They 
were  then  asked  further  respecting  Christ  and  his  kingdom, 
what  was  its  nature,  and  when  and  where  it  was  to  appear  ? 
They  replied,  that  it  was  not  a  temporal  nor  earthly  king- 
dom, but  a  celestial  and  angelic  one ;  that  it  would  appear 
at  the  end  of  the  world,  and  that  then,  coming  in  glory, 
Christ  would  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead,  and  give  to 
every  one  according  to  his  works.  Upon  this  Domitian, 
despising  them,  made  no  reply,  but  treating  them  contempt- 
uously as  simpletons  he  commanded  them  to  be  dismissed, 
and  by  a  decree  ordered  the  persecution  to  cease.  Thus 
delivered,  they  ruled  the  churches,  both  as  witnesses  and 

*  Less  than  fifteen  hundred  dollars  in  our  present  silver  money. 
Money  was  worth  more  then  than  now;  probably  land  was  not  so. 


THE   UNIVERSAL   PRIVILEGE.  191 

relatives  of  the  Lord.  When  peace  was  established,  they 
continued  living  even  until  the  times  of  Trajan." 

And  yet  these  poor,  hard-handed,  despised,  laboring  men 
were  "the  brothers,"  or,  as  we  say  now,  "  the  cousins,"  of 
the  personal  family  of  Jesus  Christ.  His  own  employment 
in  youth  was  no  doubt  that  of  a  carpenter.  Yet  he  came 
into  the  world  to  be  of  such  as  these  ;  and  they  were  the 
men  who  conquered  the  world — not  with  swords  and  spears ; 
but  with  the  universal  preaching  of  salvation,  with  works 
of  mercy,  with  patient  suffering,  with  almsgiving,  and  with 
love.  Jesus  "lifted  up  his  eyes  on  his  disciples  and  sai-id. 
Blessed  be  ye  poor,  for  yours  is  the  kingdom  of  God."* 
The  poor  formed  its  conquering  legions  then,  and  they  must 
do  so  now.f 

And  for  "strangers"  also  God  has  made  provision  in  the 
new  temple.  "The  sons  of  strangers  shall  build  up  thy 
walls."  Their  gifts,  like  those  of  the  people  of  Tyre, 
shall  help  to  rear  and  adorn  them.  "If  they  come  and 
pray  in  this  house,  then  hear  thou  from  the  heavens,  even 
from  thy  dwelling-place,  and  do  according  to  all  that  the 

*  Luke  vi.  20. 

f  Dr.  J.  I.  DoLLiNGER,  The  First  Age  of  Christianity  and  the 
Church,  vol.  ii.,  p.  239,  says,  with  great  truth,  "  Nearly  all  the  first 
converts  were  from  the  poorer  and  humbler  classes.  The  only 
known  exceptions  are  Nicodemus,  Joseph,  Sergius  Paulus,  Diony- 
sius  the  Areopagite,  Apollos  and  Paul  himself.  That  was  the  order 
of  Christianity — first  came  the  poor,  the  ignorant  and  uneducated 
slaves  and  the  very  lowest  classes.  Gradually,  and  after  a  long  in- 
terval, the  powerful,  the  wise,  the  rich  were  won  by  them,  or  rather 
were  overcome  and  compelled  to  follow  in  the  general  movement." 


192     god's  kule  for  christian  giving. 

stranger  calletli  to  thee  for,  that  all  people  of  the  earth  may 
know  thy  name  and  fear  thee."  The  gifts  of  even  such  as 
are  "strangers  to  the  covenants  of  promise"  are  due  from 
them,  as  creatures  of  God's  hand  and  care.  Such  men  and 
women  in  our  churches,  Vfho  honor  Christ  by  gifts  and  labors 
with  sincere  hearts  and  seeking  his  grace,  often  find,  as  Solo- 
mon says,  that  "a  man's  gift  maketh  room  for  him,  and 
bringeth  him  before  "  the  King.  The  enlistment  of  uncon- 
verted persons  in  deeds  of  charity,  and  contributions  for  the 
work  of  the  Church,  powerfully  helps  to  bring  them  and 
Christ  into  one — not  of  their  merit,  for  they  owe  him  all 
things,  but  of  his  grace.* 

Should  the  Ministry  be  Governed  by  the  Apos- 
tle's Rule  of  Giving. 

Shall  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  give  according  to  the 
apostolic  rule  ? — is  an  important  question  as  to  which  many 
desire  to  have  their  minds  at  rest. 

Such  matters  must  be  determined  by  the  knowledge  and 
conscience  of  each  one  for  himself.  We  are  ministers  of 
God ;  and  "  every  one  of  us  shall  give  account  of  himself  to 
God."  But  the  following  considerations  may  help  some  in 
ascertaining  the  way  of  duty. 

The  Levites,  under  the  former  Dispensation,  were  in- 
structed by  Moses  to  give  of  all  the  tithes  which  the  people 
paid  to  themselves  a  tenth  to  the  high  priest,  f  Tiie  high 
priest  was  the  type  of  him  who  is  set  on  the  right  hand  of  the 
majesty  in  the  heavens,  the  honor  of  whose  service,  and  the 

*  Isa.  Ix.  10.    2  Chron.  xi.  33.     Prov.  xviii.  16. 
t  Ex.  XXX.  11-16. 


THE  UNIVERSAL  PRIVILEGE.  193 

preciousness  of  wliose  name  in  all  tlie  earth,  surely  claim  an 
equal  measure  of  consecration  from  his  ministering  brethren. 
Can  we  do  less  for  our  Jesus  than  the  Levite  did  for  Aaron, 
or  Samuel,  or  Abiathar? 

Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  paid  the  didrachma,  or  half-shekel 
of  the  sanctuary,  for  himself  and  Peter,  when  it  was  asked 
of  them ;  and  wrought  a  miracle  for  the  purpose,  bringing  it 
by  the  mouth  of  a  fish.  Olshausen  says,*  "  The  question 
put  by  the  collectors  of  this  assessment,  whether  Jesus  would 
pay  it,  assuredly  arose  from  the  circumstance  of  these  per- 
sons believing  that  as  a  theocratic  teacher  he  would  regard 
himself  as  free  from  such  an  impost.  But  Peter,  to  whom 
the  question  was  addressed  in  the  absence  of  Jesus,  believed, 
that  with  his  strong  religious  feelings,  he  would  make  it  a 
point  to  pay  such  holy  taxes,  and  answered  affirmatively." 
"The  Lord's  words  at  the  same  time  clearly  prove  that 
Jesus  acknowledged  and  honored  the  Old  Testament  order 
in  general  as  a  Divine  institute."  "  He  contemplated  the 
whole  temple  service  in  its  preparatory  character."  It  was 
spiritualized  by  Christ's  death.  Trench  observes f  that, 
"  the  word  '  tribute '  in  our  translation  upholds  an  error,  and 
leads  men's  thoughts  in  the  wrong  direction — to  consider  this 
a  civil  impost,  instead  of  what  it  truly  was,  a  theocratic  pay- 
ment, due  to  ihe  temple  and  the  temple's  God." 

The  apostles  and  first  ministry  of  the  gospel  as  they  freely 

*  Comments,  on  the  Gospels ;  Part  III.  Bloomfield;  Eecensio 
Synoptiea,  says,  "  I  entirely  agree  with  those  who  tell  us  that  this 
■was  the  sacred  tribute,  the  half  shekel."  Ex.  xxx.  11-16.  Jacobus, 
Notes  on  Matthew,  is  to  the  same  effect. 

f  Trench;  Noten  on  the  Miracles,  299-311. 
13 


194 


received,  did  freely  give.  Paul  wrought  with  his  own  hands 
as  a  tent-maker;  others  as  fishermen,  to  minister  to  their 
own  necessities,  and  those  also  of  their  fellow-laborers.  We 
are  told  that  Barnabas,  or  Joses,  who  had  been  a  Levite, 
and  became  one  of  the  most  faithful  ministers  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church;  sold  his  entire  possessions  and  brought  the 
money  and  laid  it  for  distribution  at  the  apostle's  feet. 

The  personal  power  of  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  must  be 
based  upon  the  mutual  sympathy  of  pastors  and  people. 
The  pastor  must  be  willing  to  be  "  tempted  in  all  points  like 
as  they  are,"  and  the  severest  of  their  temptations  in  this 
evil  world  are,  as  a  whole,  those  which  spring  from  trials 
connected  with  money.  The  affections  of  the  people  are 
powerfully  drawn  out  toward  a  pastor  who  is  beneficent 
in  the  use  of  money. 

Continual  efibrts  to  obtain  money  from  a  people  without 
the  personal  example  of  liberality,  creates  irritation  and 
hostility.  If  the  ministry  do  not  exercise  corresponding  care 
to  cultivate  their  own  grace  of  giving,  the  ordinary  result 
has  ever  been  to  generate  in  themselves  and  their  order 
covetousness,  pride,  strifes,  and  hierarchical  assumptions. 

Wisdom,  economy  and  forethought  are  necessary  in  the 
affairs  of  ministers,  as  of  other  men.  Yet  the  most  certain 
provision  which  a  minister  can  make  for  his  old  age  and  for 
the  care  of  his  family  is  not  in  saving  and  hoarding  a  por- 
tion of  his  income,  at  the  expense  of  liberality.  It  is  wise  in 
him  to  educate,  by  his  example  and  spirit,  hundreds  of  fara^ 
ilies  to  generosity  and  sympathy.  They  become  to  him 
more  than  brothers  and  sisters.  Such  a  man  when  old  is 
rarely  forsaken,  nor  do  his  seed  beg  bread.     There  is  a  great 


THE   UNIVERSAL   PRIVILEGE.  195 

secret  of  Divine  Providence  just  in  this  method  of  making  a 
man's  loss  become  "an  hundred  fold"  gain  to  him  and  to 
his  children  after  him. 

Personal  comfort,  assurance  of  God's  love,  peace  of  con- 
science, joy  in  the  Holy  Grhost,  and  increase  of  every  grace, 
l)eculiarly  flow  from  liberal  systematic  charity  ;  and  the  min- 
ister who  from  true  love  to  God  and  man  gives  abundantly 
will  find  that  when  his  knowledge  and  learning,  when  his 
earthly  faith  and  hope  and  their  exercise,  shall  cease,  this 
"  shall  abide"  in  its  eternal  and  joyful  rewards. 

The  amount  of  money  which  a  definite  proportion  of  the 
incomes  of  the  ministry  alone  would  afford,  to  aid  the  work 
of  the  Church,  far  surpasses  the  imagination  of  most  persons. 
The  salaries  of  the  near  five  thousand  ministers  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  amount  to  about  four  millions  of  dollars  per 
annum.*  The  one  tenth  of  this  sum  would  be  equal  to  the 
present  total  average  contributions  of  the  whole  Church  to 
the  foreign  or  home  mission  boards.  If  distributed  among 
the  several  boards  it  would  support  one-fourth  of  their  en- 
tire work.  We  know,  however,  that  the  contributions  of 
the  ministry  form  a  large  part  of  the  present  revenues  of 
the  boards,  and  are  proportionally  greatly  in  advance  of 
those  of  the  laity. 

•i"^  In  the  years  1872  and  1873  the  salaries  were  reported  to  the 
General  Assembly.  They  amounted,  so  far  as  given,  to  $2,597,342, 
for  4,441  men,  in  the  one  year;  and  $3,151,767,  for  4,534  men,  in 
the  other.  Adding  ministers  and  even  entire  presbyteries  not  re- 
sponding then  to  the  call,  and  also  other  sources  of  income  from 
which  most  ministers  would  no  doubt  desire  to  add  offerings  to  God, 
the  amount  would  appear  to  not  be  under  what  is  named. 


The  example  is  still  more  powerful  than  the  precepts  of 
the  minister  who  contributes  liberally  to  the  claims  which  he 
advocates.  His  preaching  of  the  gospel  obtains  a  new  hold 
upon  the  respect  of  his  hearers.  We  observe  in  the  general 
history  of  churches  that  an  extraordinary  blessing  has  seemed 
to  follow  the  labors  of  men  who  have  made  the  exercise  of 
liberality  a  regular  and  prominent  feature  of  their  ministry. 
Some  of  them,  as  Isaac  Watts,  and  John  Wesley,  and  Greorge 
Whitfield,  have  instituted  mighty  influences  which  have 
revolutionized  the  spirit  of  great  bodies  of  Christians. 

The  present  era  is  a  general  "  time  of  re -formation,"  tlie 
"fullness  of  times,"  which  has  had  no  parallel  since  the 
Levitical  dispensation  passed  away,  and  old  things  passed 
away  and  all  things  became  new  amidst  the  joys  of  Christ's 
coming  to  make  full  atonement  for  sin.  Now  he  comes  to 
reign.  Our  brethren  of  that  previous  era  were  made  "  a 
spectacle  unto  the  world,  and  to  angels,  and  to  men."  They 
suffered  hunger  and  thirst  and  nakedness ;  they  were  buf- 
feted ;  they  labored,  working  with  their  own  hands ;  they 
were  reviled,  persecuted,  defamed;  they  were  made  the 
filth  of  all  things,  and  the  ofi"scouring  of  the  world.  Thus, 
they  filled  up  that  which  is  behind  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ, 
for  his  body's  sake,  which  is  the  Church.  Have  we  no  cross 
to  bear?  Is  he  not  to  be  glorified  now  by  a  "  witness" — 
"if  needs  be,"  a  martyrdom — of  sufiering?  Or  is  it  only  a 
few  who  are  called  to  deny  themselves? 

"  Must  Jesus  bear  the  cross  alone. 
And  all  the  world  go  free? 
No  !  there's  a  cross  for  every  one, 
And  there's  a  cross  for  me." 


THE  UNIVEESAL   PRIVILEGE.  197 

How  little  can  we  do  for  him,  compared  with  what  he  did, 
and  does,  and  promises  for  us !  But  this  let  us  do,  until  his 
gospel  is  "preached  to  every  creature  which  is  under 
heaven;"  "striving  according  to  his  working,  which  work- 
eth  in  us  mightily."  * 

Such  are  the  considerations  which  have  moved  many  of 
our  ministers  to  adopt  the  rule  of  laying  by  some  propor- 
tionate part,  generally  not  less  than  one  tenth,  of  their  in- 
come, for  contributions  to  the  work  of  the  Church  through 
her  boards  and  to  such  claims  as  may  arise  within  the 
sphere  of  their  own  observation.  The  general  character  of 
the  Presbyterian  and  Protestant  ministry  suggests  the  prob- 
ability that  the  practice  of  that  which  seems  to  be  so  thor- 
oughly approved  by  Scripture,  by  reason,  by  experience, 
and  by  its  fruits,  will  become  universal,  and  "every  one" 
of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  also,  in  this  latter  day,  lay  by  of  his 
means  as  God  has  prospered. 

«  Heb.  ix.  10.     Eph.  i.  10.     1  Cor.  iv.  9-13,     Col.  i.  23-29. 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE  POWER  OF  UNIVERSAL  COMBINATION. 

TT  is  tlie  purpose  of  the  divine  rule  to  do  more  than  merely 
-^  engage  every  class  in  the  Church  in  giving.  It  aims  to 
enlist  every  single  individual ;  and  to  give  him,  or  her,  a 
place  and  a  share  in  the  work  of  bringing  the  world  into 
obedience  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  would  make  him 
the  Head  of  a  body  which  has  not  in  it  a  single  dead  or 
useless  member. 

The  power  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  were  this  idea  brought 
into  effect  in  regard  to  pecuniary  contributions,  can  be  best 
understood  by  observing  the  applications  of  the  principle 
in  the  affairs  of  the  world. 

Effect  in  Supporting  a  National  Postal  System. 
There  was  a  day,  not  longer  ago  than  that  in  which  the 
foundations  of  European  civihzation  were  laid  by  the  Roman 
empire,  when  the  cost  of  sending  a  letter  a  couple  of  thou- 
sand miles  may  be  rated  at  many  thousands  of  dollars  of 
our  money.     It  implied  some  great  necessity  or  privilege, 
the  employment  of  courageous  and  experienced  couriers, 
expensive    relays    of    horses,    the    protection    of    armed 
soldiery,  and  great  perils  from  savage  races,  wild  beasts, 
storms,  floods  and  accidents. 
Now,  a  sealed  letter  is  sent,  in  America,  from  St.  Augus- 
198 


POWER   OF   UNIVERSAL  COMBINATIOiNT.       199 

tine  in  Florida  to  New  Archangel  in  Alaska  for  three  cents ; 
or  a  postal  card  or  a  newspaper  for  one  cent.  The  distance 
is  more  than  twice  as  great,  the  persons  employed  more 
numerous,  the  total  expense  far  greater.  Why  the  differ- 
ence in  the  cost  of  transmission  ? 

It  is  because  in  the  former  case  few  letters  were  sent, 
and  they  upon  affairs  of  the  government,  or  between  per- 
sons of  rank  or  importance.  In  the  latter  case,  the  entire 
population,  scarcely  a  family  excepted,  employs  the  mails. 
Some  individuals  write  hundreds  of  letters,  and  some  send 
forth  thousands,  or  even  tens  of  thousands,  of  circulars 
during  the  year.  Hence,  without  counting  regular  newspa- 
per and  magazine  postage,  the  adhesive  stamps  annually 
used  sum  up  from  six  to  seven  hundred  millions.  This 
universal  employment  of  the  mails  supports  a  vast  system 
of  nearly  ten  thousand  mail-routes,  which  connect  together 
all  the  cities,  towns  and  hamlets  of  the  immense  territory 
of  the  nation ;  their  aggregate  length  is  ten  times  the  cir- 
cumference of  the  globe,  and  that  of  the  separate  trips  of 
the  mails  upon  them  is  greater  by  one  third  than  the  dis- 
tance from  the  earth  to  the  sun — near  a  hundred  and  thirty 
millions  of  miles.  The  expense  of  this  stupendous  machi- 
nery, which  employs,  in  numerous  ways,  many  thousands 
of  men,  is  from  thirty  to  thirty-five  millions  of  dollars  a 
j-ear. 

No  lesson  could  be  more  impressive  than  this  one  as  to  the 
incalculable  importance  of  the  universal  combination  of  a 
people  to  accomplish  a  great  object. 


200     god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

Success  of  French  Popular  Loans. 

The  European  wars  of  a  few  centuries  ago  were  carried 
on  at  terrible  disadvantage  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of 
obtaining  money.  It  was  secured  by  forced  loans  from 
subjects,  by  oppressive  and  unequal  taxes  and  imposts,  by 
despotic  confiscations  of  property,  and  other  pernicious 
means. 

The  extraordinary  financial  ability  of  the  late  emperor 
Louis  Napoleon  brought  into  operation  in  France  a  sys- 
tem of  popular  loans  which  accomplished  results  that  were 
looked  upon  by  the  financiers  of  the  world  with  astonishment. 
The  Rothschilds  and  other  capitalists  having  declined  to 
furnish  him  with  money  for  the  prosecution  of  the  Crim- 
ean war,  on  satisfactory  terms,  he  threw  himself  upon  the 
people.  The  success  of  the  measure  was  so  great  that  five 
principal  loans  were  efi"ected,  in  the  years  1854  to  1864, 
for  the  support  of  that  and  the  subsequent  Italian  war, 
and  for  the  consolidation  of  floating  debts.  The  amount 
asked  for  in  them  was  about  four  hundred  millions  of  dol- 
lars (2,052,250,000  francs) ;  the  subscriptions  ofi'ered  were 
for  two  thousand  and  seven  hundred  millions  of  dollars 
(13,694,034,888  francs)  ;  that  is,  for  nearly  seye/i  times  the 
sum  needed.  The  number  of  separate  subscriptions,  in 
sums  varying  chiefly  from  ten  dollars  to  two  thousand,  and 
many  of  them  payable  in  monthly  instalments,  was  1,828,951. 
This  financial  triumph  accomplished  for  Louis  JMapoleoa 
some  other  very  important  ends,  not  the  least  of  which  was 
the  firmer  establishment  for  the  time  of  his  throne  upon 
the  interests  and  regards  of  the  common  people  of  France, 


POWER  OF   UNIVERSAL   COMBINATION.      201 

since  one  third  of  the  six  milHons  of  the  families  of  the 
country,  instead  of  counting  the  war  a  burthen,  became  di- 
rectly concerned  in  its  success,  and  in  the  measures  which 
were  necessary  to  produce  it. 

Financial  Lessons  oi*  our  Civil  War. 
During  the  late  civil  war,  our  own  nation  learned  a  lessou 
from  the  example  of  the  French  loans,  which  has  affected 
our  whole  political  and  financial  history.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  war  the  appalling  problem  of  the  government  was 
that  of  the  procuring  of  money  to  carry  it  on.  Foreign  help 
and  friendship  failed  us,  and  the  nation  without  this  vital 
instrumentality  must  have  perished.  The  financial  abilities 
and  experience  of  Mr.  Jay  Cooke  were  put  in  requisition. 
He  appealed  to  the  resources  and  loyalty  of  the  people 
themselves,  assured  that  this  was  the  only  hope  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  that  it  would  not  fail  him.  A  series  of  popular 
loans  was  instituted.  Bonds,  even  of  small  amounts,  and 
compound  interest  notes,  were  made  accessible  to  the  whole 
population ;  their  patriotism  and  sympathies  were  appealed 
to ;  abundant  information  was  disseminated  in  the  newspa- 
pers, and  by  circulars  and  pamphlets ;  and  every  man  was 
solicited  to  help  in  this  way,  according  to  his  means,  in  the 
great  struggle  for  national  life.  The  result  was,  that  in  eigh- 
teen months  Mr.  Cooke  funded  five  hundred  millions  of  dol- 
lars in  "five-twenties;"  and  this  was  done  at  an  expense, 
including  commissions  of  agents,  of  only  one-half  of  one 
per  cent.  No  European  loan  was  ever  made  so  cheaply. 
In  August,  1864,  the  "  seven-thirty  loan  "  was  brought  out, 
but  proved  a  failure.    In  February,  1865,  it  was  put  in  Mr. 


Cooke's  hands.  He  employed  the  same  methods  as  before, 
and  appealed  to  the  people  for  support.  One  of  his  first 
acts  was  to  put  seventy-five  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  ad- 
vertisements into  the  newspapers.  This  effort,  ia  turn,  was 
so  surprisingly  successful,  notwithstanding  the  enormous 
drains  of  the  war  in  different  ways  upon  the  people,  that  by 
July,  or  in  only  five  months,  he  had  sold  seven  hundred 
millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  the  bonds  and  closed  the  loan. 

The  lessons  which  these  appeals  to  the  entire  people  of 
the  country  taught  the  government  and  the  financiers  were 
of  indescribable  importance.  It  was  these  small  contribu- 
tions from  hundreds  of  thousands  of  farmers,  working  men, 
women,  people  who  felt  that  the  bond  was  their  ^'' substi- 
tute^^ in  the  fight,  which  saved  the  country.  And  while 
this  revenue  equipped  our  armies  and  fleets,  provided  for 
the  sick  and  disabled,  and  carried  on  this  gigantic  war,  it  did 
far  more ;  it  enlisted  under  the  national  banner  the  men  and 
women,  and  even  the  children,  of  the  whole  nation ;  it  anni- 
hilated the  old  distinctions  of  party ;  it  warmed  the  whole 
population  with  a  new  love  of  country  and  appreciation  of 
the  value  of  its  institutions ;  it  braced  us  up  with  a  courage 
and  sound  national  self-respect  which  we  had  never  before 
possessed ;  it  developed  our  vast  manufacturing,  mineral, 
and  general  productive  wealth,  to  an  astonishing  degree; 
it  left  us  not  as  we  feared  crushed,  bankrupt,  and  ruined, 
but  absolutely  twice  as  rich  nationally  as  we  were  before  the 
war  commenced.  It  was  a  grand  national  realization  of 
how  blessed  it  is  for  "  every  one  "  to  give.     . 

We  conceive  it  to  be  almost  impossible  that  this  stupen- 
dous lesson,  which  God  in  the  wondrous  methods  of  his 


POWER  OF   UNIVERSAL   COMBIXATIOX.      203 

providence  set  before  the  eyes  of  his  Church  in  this  nation, 
holding  it  up  before  our  reluctant  and  weeping  eyes,  and 
laying  the  rod  upon  us  all  the  while,  can  be  lost.  But  if  it 
accomplish  not  its  object — if  we  do  not  put  in  operation  the 
practicable  means  for  enlisting  the  entire  population  of 
the  Church,  its  men,  its  women,  and  its  children,  in  the  des- 
perate war  to  rescue  immortal  souls  from  the  power  and 
curse  and  woes  of  sin  to  crush  the  resistance  of  hell  to  the 
glorious  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  fill  the 
nation  and  the  world  with  the  beneficent  triumphs  of  the 
gospel  of  his  grace — then  assuredly  we  do  deserve  more  and 
severer  chastisement.     And  we  will  receive  it. 

Evils  or  Partial  Methods  of  Contribution. 
The  pernicious  efi"ects  of  the  opposite  methods  of  obtain- 
ing the  means  necessary  for  the  support  of  the  State  are  so 
great,  that  they  have  gradually  fallen  into  disuse  on  the  part 
of  monarchical  governments,  and  have  been  rejected,  save 
in  a  few  and  extreme  cases  in  our  own.  The  arbitrary  and 
unequal  assessments  upon  individuals,  or  classes,  or  guilds, 
or  towns,  or  commercial  companies ;  the  granting  of  monop- 
olies of  the  trade  or  manufacture  of  particular  articles,  or 
of  commercial  traffic  with  certain  foreign  countries;  the 
farming  of  the  taxes  upon  the  people  of  certain  districts  for 
a  given  sum  of  money ;  all  such  things  in  the  past,  among 
our  ancestry,  we  read  of  with  a  sort  of  horror.  We  bless 
God  for  the  men  who  resisted  and  overthrew  them,  some- 
times at  the  sacrifice  of  their  own  fortunes  and  lives.  We 
are  grateful  that  we  have  experienced  so  few  of  such  evils 
under  our  republican  institutions. 


Income  taxes,  which  are  usually  fixed  at  five  or  ten  per 
cent,  upon  incomes  of  over  a  certain  amount,  may  be  classed 
among  the  measures  of  this  nature.  A  tax  of  this  charac- 
ter upon  incomes  of  over  six  hundred  dollars,  with  certain 
deductions  allowed  upon  the  excess,  was  laid  upon  our  coun- 
try during  the  severe  trials  of  the  civil  war.  It  was  exceed- 
ingly odious.  Its  influence  upon  the  moral  tone  of  society 
was  very  injurious.  Hundreds  oF  thousands  evaded  it.  It 
led  to  much  dishonesty  and  falsehood.  It  realized  about 
fifty  millions  of  dollars  in  the  year  after  the  close  of  the 
war,  which  was  assessed  upon  only  four  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  persoirs.  This  sunk  to  under  thirty-five  millions 
in  1869.  The  tax  was  dropped  in  1870.  Mr.  J.  Stuart 
Mill  says,  in  his  "Political  Economy,"*  of  such  taxes,  "To 
tax  the  larger  incomes  at  a  higher  per  centage  than  the 
smaller,  is  to  lay  a  tax  on  industry  and  economy ;  to  impose 
a  penalty  on  people  for  having  worked  harder  and  saved 
more  than  their  neighbors.  It  is  partial  taxation,  which  is 
a  mild  form  of  robbery."  "I  can  hardly  conceive  a  more 
shameless  pretension  than  that  the  major  part  of  the  prop- 
erty of  the  country  [which  would  not  be  within  the  sphere 
of  such  an  assessment]  should  be  exempted  from  its  share 
of  taxation." 

The  lesson  from  the  experiences  of  the  State  should  here 
again  be  laid  to  heart  by  the  Church.  The  same  e  als  flow 
from  arbitrary  and  unequal  requirements  in  this  case  as  in 
that.  The  demands  upon  certain  communities,  and  upon 
certain  men  who  have  obtained  a  name  for  liberality,  have 
been  felt  by  them  to  be  oppressive.  It  has  led  to  resistance 
*-  Book  vi.,  chap.  ii. 


POWER  OF  UNIVERSAL  COMBINATION.      205 

on  their  part.  They  have  characterized  it  as  "  a  partial 
taxation,"  unequal  and  unfair.  The  time  has  come  for  the 
adoption  by  the  Church  of  an  equitable  system  of  volun- 
tary contributions  by  the  people,  one  in  accordance  with 
Scripture,  which  will  enable  her  to  enlist  the  aid  of  all  her 
membership,  in  proportion  to  their  means;  and  this  not 
alone  to  bear  the  light  burdens  of  the  past,  but  to  supply 
the  immeasurably  greater  demands  of  the  conflicts  before 
her. 

Evidence  from  the  Success  of  Methodism. 

So  recent  was  the  rise  of  Episcopal  Methodism,  that  there 
are  many  men  and  women  alive  who  were  born  in  the  life- 
time of  its  founder,  John  Wesley.  It  was  in  1739  that, 
after  a  stormy  interview  at  Lambeth  with  the  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  in  which  His  Grace  threatened  him  with  ex- 
communication for  field  preaching,  Wesley  determined  to 
"break  down  the  bridge"  which  connected  him  with  the 
power  of  the  Established  Church,  and  "fight  his  way  for- 
ward." He  began,  in  preaching  to  the  populace  at  Moor- 
fields  and  the  colliers  at  Kjngwood,  an  "itinerant"  career 
which  ended  in  1791. 

The  fact  seems  almost  incredible  that  to-day  this  still 
youthful  Church  and  its  offshoots  number  four  millions  of 
members,  over  three  millions  of  whom  are  in  the  United 
States,  and  that  it  has  a  total  leadership  of  twenty-five 
thousand  itinerant  or  regular  preachers,  and  sixty-three 
thousand  local  preachers.  The  "Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  "  (of  the  North)  alone,  which  contains  one  million 
and  a  half  of  members,  gives  seventeen  and  a  half  millions 


206     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

of  dollars  to  religious  and  charitable  objects.  The  property 
of  the  several  Methodist  bodies  stood  far  above  that  of  any 
other  Church  in  value,  in  the  national  census  of  1870, 
amounting  to  within  a  fraction  of  seventy  millions  of  dollars. 

What  is  the  cause  of  this  truly  amazing  growth  ?  We 
have  it  in  the  famous  watchword  of  all  its  members:  "  Jus- 
tification, sanctification,  and  a  penny  a  week."  First,  faith 
in  Jesus  Christ  alone  for  salvation ;  second,  personal  holi- 
ness, complete  consecration  to  God  through  the  Spirit; 
third,  universal  weekly  giving  through  the  Church  of  at 
least  one  penny  for  every  member.  As  to  this  first  point, 
their  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  ftiith  is  notoriously 
deficient;  as  to  the  second,  their  spirituality  is  deformed 
with  excesses  of  mere  physical  excitement ;  as  to  the  third, 
they  have  not  reached  the  application  of  more  than  a  part 
of  the  mighty  Divine  Rule  of  Paul.  And  yet  there  stand 
the  solid  and  sublime  evidences  of  their  astonishing  success 
in  doing  the  work  of  building  up  both  the  spiritual  and  the 
material  walls  of  the  temple  of  Christ. 

The  engagement  of  the  "lay-members"  of  the  Church 
in  active  work,  and  contributions  for  its  maintenance,  is  a 
principal  element  of  the  Methodist  success.  There  are 
enumerated  in  the  ecclesiastical  reports  those  filling  various 
offices.  Thus,  in  the  Church  North,  to  which  allusion  has 
been  made,  there  are  fifty-four  thousand  class-leaders,  eighty- 
seven  thousand  stewards  of  societies,  one  hundred  and  two 
thousand  trustees  of  churches,  twenty-five  thousand  sun- 
day-school  superintendents,  and  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight  thousand  teachers  and  other  officers  of  sunday-schools. 

The  peculiar  organization  which  has  given  to  Episcopal 


POWER   OF   UNIVERSAL   COMBINATION.      207 

Methodism  its  cliief  power  is  that  of  the  "classes."  Their 
origin  and  nature  are  worthy  of  careful  study.  The  follow- 
ing is  the  account  of  their  origin  as  given  by  Richard  Wat- 
son, the  biographer  of  the  Rev.  John  Wesley.* 

"In  the  discipline  of  Methodism  the  division  of  the  so- 
ciety into  classes  is  an  important  branch.  Each  class  is 
placed  under  a  person  of  experience  and  piety,  who  meets 
the  others  once  a  week  for  prayers  and  inquiry  into  the 
religious  state  of  each,  in  order  to  administer  exhortation 
and  counsel."  The  origin  of  the  classes  is  thus  traced  out. 
"The  chapel  in  Bristol  was  in  debt,  and  it  was  agreed  that 
each  member  of  the  society  should  contribute  one  penny  a 
■week  to  reduce  the  burden.  The  Bristol  society  was  there- 
fore divided  into  classes,  and  for  convenience  one  person  was 
appointed  to  collect  weekly  subscriptions  from  each  class,  and 
to  pay  the  amount  to  the  stewards.  The  advantages  of  this 
system,  when  turned  to  a  higher  purpose,  at  once  struck 
the  methodical  and  practical  mind  of  Mr.  Wesley.  He 
therefore  invited  several '  earnest  and  sensible  men'  to  meet 
him,  and  the  society  in  London  was  divided  into  classes  like 
that  of  Bristol,  and  i)laced  under  the  spiritual  care  of  these 
tried  and  experienced  persons.  At  first  they  visited  each 
person  at  his  own  residence  once  a  week,  but  the  preferable 
mode  of  bringing  each  class  together  weekly  was  at  length 
adopted.  .  .  .  Opportunities  were  also  thus  afforded  for 
ascertaining  the  wants  of  the  poorer  members,  and  ob- 
taining relief  for  them,  and  for  visiting  the  sick :  the  duty 
of  a  leader  being  to  see  his  members  once  in  the  week, 
either  at  the  meeting,  or,  if  absent  from  that,  at  home." 

*  Life  of  Wesley,  chap.  vii. 


208     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

Mr.  Wesley  remarks  in  his  Journal  witli  regard  to  these 
"classes,"  which  had  been  organized  as  the  most  "me- 
thodical ' '  and  practical  way  of  spreading  the  gospel  and 
building  up  the  Church :  "  Upon  reflection,  I  could  not  but 
observe,  this  is  the  very  thing  which  was  from  the  beginning 
of  Christianity.  In  the  earliest  times,  those  whom  God 
had  sent  forth  'preached  the  gospel  to  every  creature.' 
The  body  of  the  hearers  were  mostly  either  Jews  or  hea- 
then. But  as  soon  as  any  of  these  were  so  convinced  of  the 
truth  as  to  forsake  sin,  and  seek  the  gospel  of  salvation, 
they  immediately  joined  them  together,  took  an  account  of 
their  names,  advised  them  to  watch  over  each  other,  and  met 
these  'catechumens,'  as  they  were  then  called,  apart  from 
the  great  congregation,  that  they  might  instruct,  rebuke, 
exhort,  and  pray  with  them,  and  for  them,  according  to 
their  several  necessities. ' ' 

To  complete  and  make  more  efficacious  the  work  of  the 
classes,  Mr.  Wesley  afterward,  beginning  in  London,  ap- 
pointed "visitors  to  the  sick."  They  were  to  visit  them 
thrice  a  week,  advise  them  spiritually,  relieve  their  wants, 
furnish  them  with  medical  care,  and  bring  in  their  accounts 
weekly  to  the  stewards.  Mr.  Wesley  says :  ' '  Upon  reflection, 
I  saw  how  exactly  in  this  also  we  copied  after  the  Primitive 
Church.  What  were  the  ancient  deacons?  What  was 
Phebe,  the  deaconess,  but  such  a  visitor  of  the  sick?" 

It  is  in  place  to  notice  here  that  the  instructions  in  the 
"Discipline"  of  the  "Methodist  Episcopal  Church"  in 
the  United  States,  for  the  guidance  of  its  class-leaders,  are 
as  follows:*  "That  it  may  the  more  easily  be  discerned 

*  Chap,  ii.,  section  1. 


POWER  OF  UNIVERSAL  COMBINATION.      209 

whether  they  are  indeed  working  out  their  own  salvation, 
each  society  is  divided  into  smaller  companies,  called  classes, 
according  to  their  respective  places  of  abode.  There  are 
about  twelve  persons  in  a  class,  one  of  whom  is  styled  the 
leader.  It  is  his  duty,  I.  To  see  each  person  in  his  class 
once  a  week  at  least,  in  order,  1.  To  inquire  how  their  souls 
prosper.  2.  To  advise,  reprove,  comfort  or  exhort,  as  occa- 
sion may  require.  3.  To  receive  what  they  are  willing  to 
give  toward  the  relief  of  the  preachers,  church,  and  poor. 
II.  To  meet  the  ministers  and  the  stewards  of  the  society 
once  a  week,  in  order,  1.  To  inform  the  minister  of  any  that 
are  sick,  or  of  any  that  walk  disorderly  and  will  not  be  re- 
proved. 2.  To  pay  the  stewards  what  they  have  received 
of  their  several  classes  in  the  week  preceding." 

In  the  organization  of  the  Methodists  for  Christian  pur- 
poses we  have  the  evidence  of  the  extraordinary  abilities, 
for  such  an  end,  of  the  leading  mind  which  gave  its  impress 
to  the  whole  Church.  The  opinion  of  Isaac  Taylor  was 
that,  *'  In  dealing  with  whatever  may  belong  to  a  process  of 
organization,  or  of  marshaling  a  host  for  a  single  initiatory 
purpose,  Wesley  has  never  been  surpassed  by  civil,  military, 
or  ecclesiastical  mechanists." 

The  power  of  Methodism  is  traced  by  this  vigorous  thinker, 
on  the  one  hand,  to  the  convictions  of  personal  responsibility 
to  God  which  it  fixed  in  the  hearts  of  its  members.  He 
says,  "It  was  the  proper  consequence  of  the  Methodistic 
preaching  to  call  into  activity  that  life  of  the  soul,  as  indi- 
vidually related  to  God,  which  must  be  named  as  one  of  its 
distinctive  elements."  But  this  individual  faith  and  zeal 
must,  on  the  otiier  hand,  be  associated,  as  are  the  difi"erent 
]4 


210     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

members  of  one  frame,  for  co-operation  to  a  great  common 
end.  Here  its  power  is  exhibited  in  its  assigning  to  "  every 
owe"  a  suitable  part  to  perform.  Mr.  Taylor  thei^efore  pre- 
sents this  strongly  to  view.  He  says:  "An  organization 
which  touches  every  one,  and  brings  every  one  into  his 
place,  and  exacts  from  every  one  his  contribution,  spiritual 
and  secular — an  organization  which  is  comprehensive  in  the 
most  absolute  sense  as  to  persons,  gifts,  talents,  and  worldly 
means — is  that  which  has  secured  for  Wesleyan  Methodism, 
until  of  late,  its  foremost  place  among  the  Protestant  com- 
munities of  England  and  America,  and  which  has  given  to 
its  labors  among  the  heathen  a  proportionally  greater  amount 
of  success  than  has  attended  the  equally  zealous  endeavors 
of  other  bodies,  perhaps  of  several  such  bodies  reckoned  to- 
gether." It  "has  proved  itself  hitherto  the  most  efficient 
expansive  Christian  institute  which  modern  times  have 
seen  ;  it  must  be  presumed,  therefore,  to  possess  excellence 
of  structure  of  a  very  peculiar  kind,  and  which  should  com- 
mand the  attention  of  all  who  make  ecclesiastical  economics 
their  study."* 

That  which  is  most  conspicuous  and  impressive  in  Wes- 
leyan Methodism  is,  that  its  peculiar  features  of  power  and 
excellence  are  all  the  modern  reproduction  of  those  of  the 
Primitive  Christian  Church.  They  were  seized  upon  in- 
stinctively,  from  the  Scriptures  and  church  history,  by  a 
comprehensive,  powerful  and  practical  mind  like  Wesley's, 
guided  by  the  enlightening  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
The  fervent  preaching  of  salvation  through  Christ,  the  duty 
of  seeking  personal  holiness,  the  inspiration  of  the  joyful 

*  Isaac  Taylor;  Wesley  and  Methodism,  pp.  79,  158,  249,  696. 


POWER  OF   UNIVERSAL   COMBINATION.      211 

hj'mns,  the  cordial  fellowship,  the  sj^mpathy  with  and  pro- 
vision for  the  poor,  the  urging  of  individual  accountability, 
the  general  co-operation  in  good  works,  the  weekly  contri- 
butions of  money,  the  continual  official  employment  of  male 
and  female  members  in  charitable  duties,  all  are  elements 
which  are  reflections,  in  this  great  revival  from  the  formal- 
ism of  a  century  ago  in  England,  which  come  directly  from 
Primitive  Christianity. 

Possible  Power  of  a  Church  Combining  these 
Characteristics  with  Others  more  thoroughly 
Scriptural. 

Let  us  suppose  a  Church  in  which  these  characteristics  are 
combined  with  a  thoroughly  scriptural  theology,  with  more 
intelligent  instruction,  with  more  judicious  discipline,*  and 
with  a  broader  comprehension  of  the  principles  of  pecuniary 
giving — above  all,  let  it  be  animated  thoroughly  with  glowing 
love  to  Jesus  Christ,  let  it  be  energized  by  the  influences  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  Grod — and  it  needs  no  tongue  of  a  prophet 
to  declare  that  such  a  Christianity  would  be  more  powerful 
than  even  that  of  the  first  centuries ;  for  now  it  has  general 
advantages  and  instrumentalities  far  greater  than  those  of 
the  Primitive  Church.  It  would  in  a  brief  time  literally 
and  truly  conquer  the  whole  world,  and  bring  it  into  loving 
obedience  to  its  glorious  and  rightful  Lord. 

*'  It  was  found  upon  careful  examination  of  its  statistics,  from  the 
year  1855  to  1865,  that  but  one  in  six  of  those  entered  as  "proba- 
tioners" became  "members"  of  the  Methodist  Church. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE  CULTIVATION  OF  PERSONAL  CHARACTER. 

THE  fame  of  no  one  of  the  preachers  of  the  gospel  in  the 
early  centuries  of  Christianity  stands  so  high  for  elo- 
quence as  that  of  John  Chrysostom.  Such  was  its  power 
that  on  many  occasions  the  excited  audiences  at  Antioch 
and  Constantinople  burst  forth  in  acts  of  loud  applause. 
Notwithstanding  the  severity  with  which  he  rebuked  their 
sins,  they  emptied  the  places  of  public  resort  and  excite- 
ment to  crowd,  in  the  latter  city,  the  great  church  of  St. 
Sophia.  He  roused  them  to  a  surprising  degree  of  liber- 
ality, for  the  building  of  institutions  of  charity  and  for 
sending  forth  evangelists  to  Asia  Minor,  Persia,  Scythia 
and  other  regions  which  had  not  yet  received  the  gospel. 
And  yet  the  example  of  the  freedom  with  which  he  poured 
out  in  acts  of  liberality  his  own  fortune,  which  he  had  in- 
herited from  his  parents,  incited  them  still  more  than  his 
burning  words.* 

*  John,  who  was  afterward  surnamed  Chrysostom,  or,  for  his  elo- 
quence, the  "  golden-mouthed,"  was  born  at  Antioch,  about  the  year 
347.  His  father,  Secundus,  was  a  Roman  military  officer,  who  died 
while  this  child  was  a  young  infant.  His  education,  training  and 
character  he  owed  to  his  mother  Anthusa,  who  remained  a  widow 
that  she  might  satisfactorily  perform  her  duties  to  her  son.  It  was 
in  regard  to  her  that  the  celebrated  teacher  Libanius  made  the  ex- 
212 


CULTIVATION   OF   PERSONAL   CHARACTER.      213 

The  Priesthood  of  the  Christian. 

Taking  up  the  idea  that  Christian  offerings  to  God  on  the 
Sabbath  are  the  noblest  evidence  of  their  priesthood,  he 
thus  paints  the  honor  of  it.  To  make  these  offerings,  says 
he,  " constitute th  them  priests:  yea,  of  a  priesthood  which 
bringeth  great  reward.  The  merciful  man  is  not  arrayed  in 
a  robe  reaching  to  the  feet,  nor  does  he  put  on  bells,  nor 
wear  a  crown.  But  he  is  wrapped  in  a  robe  of  loving 
kindness,  a  holier  than  the  sacerdotal  vestments.  He  is 
anointed  with  oil,  not  formed  of  material  elements,  but 
compounded  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  weareth  a  crown  of 
mercies,  for  it  is  declared,  '  He  crowneth  thee  with  loving 
kindness  and  tender  mercies. '  Instead  of  wearing  upon  it  a 
plate  inscribed  with  the  name  of  God,  he  is  in  himself  like 
unto  God.  In  what  way  ?  Because  it  is  said,  '  Ye  shall  be 
like  unto  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven.'  " 

In  commenting  upon  the  Christian  Rule  for  Giving,  Chrys- 
ostom  sheds  a  most  important  light  upon  the  understanding 
of  its  requirements  which  prevailed  in  the  East  at  that  day. 
The  following  are  his  remarks  upon  the  words  "  lay  by  him 

clamation,  "  What  wives  these  Christians  have  !"  The  Church  his- 
torian Theodoret  ;  Ec  Hist.,  V.  xxvii.,  styles  Chrysostom  "  the  great 
luminary  of  the  world."  He  was,  there  is  no  doubt,  misled  by  his 
devout  aspirations,  in  an  age  when  he  had  not  the  guidance  of  the 
Church's  subsequent  experience,  into  asceticism;  he  was  severe  and 
sometimes  imperious.  Yet  he  deserves  the  admiring  testimony  of 
Neander  {Pref.  to  First  ed.  of  Life  of  Chrysostom),  who  says,  "  None 
of  the  ancient  Fathers  have  laid  down  so  many  truths  of  practical 
importance,  and  so  equally  suited  to  all  ages,  as  Chrysostom." 


214     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

in  store."  The  apostle  "does  not  say,  'let  him  bring  it 
into  the  Church,'  lest  they  might  feel  ashamed  of  the  sum ; 
hut,  '  having  by  gradual  additions  swelled  his  contribution, 
let  him  produce  it  when  I  come. '  Therefore  '  for  the  pres- 
ent, lay  it  up,'  says  he,  'at  home,  and  make  thine  own 
house  a  church,  and  thy  little  box  a  treasury.'  Become 
thyself  a  guardian  of  consecrated  wealth,  a  self-ordained 
steward  of  the  poor.  Thy  charitable  mind  entitles  thee  to 
this  priesthood."  "Let  us  make  a  little  chest  for  the  poor 
at  home.  Near  the  place  at  which  you  stand  praying, 
there  let  it  be  put ;  and  as  often  as  you  enter  in  to  pray, 
first  deposit  your  alms,  and  then  send  up  your  prayer. 
You  would  not  wish  to  pray  with  unclean  hands,  so  neither 
do  it  without  alms."  "If  you  have  this  Httle  treasurj^, 
you  have  a  defence  against  the  devil.  You  give  wings  to 
your  prayer.  You  make  your  house  sacred,  having  pro- 
vision for  the  King  laid  up  there  in  store."* 

Interpretation  of  the  Kule. 
These  passages  most  happily  and  clearly  present  to  us  the 
general  method  and  principles  of  the  religious  contributions 
of  Christians  in  the  early  centuries  of  the  Church.  They 
come  to  us  from  one  who  labored  in  the  great  centre  of  the 
missionary  efforts  of  tlie  Apostolic  Church :  of  which,  in- 
deed, On  account  of  their  zeal,  it  is  recorded  in  the  book 
of  Acts,  that  "the  disciples  were  called  Christians  first  in 
Antioch."  f  This  light  shows  to  us  the  meaning  of  those 
words  in  the  divine  rule  %  which  our  common  version  trans- 

«:-  Homilies,  1  Cor.;  XLIIL  f  Chap.  xi.  26. 

\  Trap  eavTto  Ti^eruj  6r)aavpi^(.oy, 


CULTIVATION   OF   PEESONAL   CHARACTEK.      215 

lates  "lay  by  him  in  store."  They  may  be  Uterally  ren- 
dered, "let  each  of  you  hy  himself  set  apart,  treasuring, 
whatsoever  he  has  prospered  in."  There  are  two  distinct 
verbs  in  the  original ;  one  directing  the  setting  apart  of  the 
money  given,  the  other  the  treasuring  of  it,  or  putting  it  into 
such  treasuries,  private  or  public,  as  were  needed  to  secure 
it  for  the  use  of  the  officers  of  the  Church. 

The  verb  translated  "lay  by,"  or  "set  apart,"  is  one 
which  often  has  a  formal  meaning :  to  commit,  aj^point, 
constitute,  ordain.  Thus  it  is  said :  "  take  heed  to  the  flock 
over  the  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made  you  overseers." 
God  "Aa^A  committed  unto  us  the  word  of  reconciliation." 
"As  many  as  were  possessors  of  lands  or  houses  sold  them, 
and  brought  the  prices  of  the  things  that  were  sold,  and 
laid  them  down  at  the  apostles  feet."  "I  have  chosen 
you  and  ordained  you,  that  ye  should  go  and  bring  forth 
fruit."* 

The  verb  "treasuring,"  which  our  version  renders,  for 
the  sake  of  simplicity,  "  in  store,"  means  making  a  particu- 
lar deposit,  or  distinct  accumulation.  Thus,  '"''lay  not  up  for 
yourselves  treasures  upon  earth."  "So  is  he  that  layeth 
up  treasure  for  himself,  and  is  not  rich  toward  God."  "Ye 
have  heajDed  together  treasure  for  the  last  days."  '''Treasur- 
eth  up  unto  thyself  wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath."  So 
with  the  corresponding  noun;  as  in  the  words,  "frecmn-e hid 
in  a  field."  t  The  participle  is  used,  apparently,  to  generalize 
the  idea,  and  allow  liberty  in  respect  to  the  localities,  or 

*  Acts  XX.  28;  v.  19.     2  Cor.  v.  19. 

t  Mai.  vi.  19.  Luke  xii.  21.  James  v.  3.  Rom.  ii.  5.  Matt, 
xiii.  44. 


216     god's  eule  for  cheistian  giving. 

depositories,  or  forms,  in  which  the  money  or  other  con- 
tributions are  to  be  kept.  Only  they  are  to  be  "  treasured 
apart. ' ' 

The  preposition  and  noun  translated  "  by  him"  are  really 
more  emphatic;  they  are  literally  "by  himself."  "By" 
means  "beside,  near,"  and  is  a  preposition  of  pZace ;  yet 
sometimes  with  the  broader  idea  of  property  in  general. 
The  words  "by  himself"  are  often  idiomatic  in  the  Greek, 
and  mean  "near  himself  at  liome;'"^  the  "treasuring" 
should  j&rst  be  "on  the  first  day  of  the  week,"  as  a  regular 
duty  at  home.  Yet  the  word  "  treasuring"  impHes  that  the 
worshiper  may  put  the  sums  accumulated  into  the  public 
depository  of  the  church,  when  convenient  for  preservation, 
security,  or  use  in  such  ways  as  he  may  designate. 

The  first  and  most  solemn  transaction  then  manifestly  was 
ihQ  private  "  setting  apart,"  dedication  and  consecration  of 
a  share  of  a  man's  income  to  the  Lord.  This  was  a  duty 
which  belonged  to  the  business  of  every  week,  and  the  con- 

*  In  regard  to  this  very  important  practical  point  it  is  designed 
that  the  explanations  shall  convey  the  sense  of  the  best  interpreters, 
ancient  and  modern.  The  Syriac  translation  renders  the  words 
"  by  him"  as  meaning  at  home.  The  later  Hebrew  New  Testament, 
separate  alone,  as  in  Gen.  xxxii.  25,  and  Ex.  xviii.  14.  The  Latin 
Vulgate,  "  apud  se  seponat ;"  "  apud  se"  was  an  idiomatic  expression 
for  "  the  dwelling,  the  house  of  a  person."  Andrews'  Lat.  Lex. 
The  French,  " mette  apart  chez  soi,"  which  is  the  same  idiom.  The 
German,  "lege  bet  steh  selhst."  Josephus,  Antiq.  xx.  10,  uses  the 
words  {trap  eavrSi)  which  are  here  translated  "by  him"  interchange- 
ably with  another  word  (owoSe)  which  means  "  at  one's  house,  or 
home."  Most  of  the  ancient  and  modern  commentators  strongly 
emphasize  this  feature  of  the  Rule. 


CULTIVATION   OF   PERSONAL  CHARACTER.       217 

secration  of  it  unto  Grod  to  every  Sabbath:  though  the  pub- 
lic act  of  presenting  it  could  be  performed  when  suitable  occa- 
sions were  offered.  Tertullian  says  "  each  one  makes  a  con- 
tribution on  a  certain  day,  or  when  he  chooses. ' '  They  were 
sometimes  handed  in  to  the  church  "once  a  month."  This 
private  consecration  is  the  imitation  of  the  picture  presented 
to  us  in  the  discourse  of  Chrysostom. 

Leading  Object,  to  Enlist  Prayer. 

To  enlist  prayer  for  the  objects  to  which  money  is  given 
is,  no  doubt,  God's  first  purpose  in  requiring  the  private 
setting  apart  of  contributions  each  Sabbath.  This  is  most 
manifest  to  one  who  has  observed  the  spirit  of  the  passage 
in  the  original  Scripture.  It  is  to  be  solemnly  and  prayer- 
fully set  apart  and  dedicated  to  God's  service.  Prayers  go 
to  the  throne  of  universal  dominion.  God,  in  answer  to 
them,  sets  in  motion  the  ministering  hosts  which  are  invis- 
ible to  mortal  eyes.  Our  money  and  labors  belong  to  the 
lower  machinery  of  earth ;  prayer  sets  in  action  those  living 
spirits  within  the  wheels  which  Ezekiel  saw  in  his  vision. 
"When  those  went,  these  went;  and  when  those  stood, 
these  stood."  Material  agencies  of  providence  have  no  life 
or  power  save  as  they  are  thus  animated  from  on  high ;  and 
as  they  are  directed  by  that  "voice"  which  the  prophet 
heard  from  the  sapphire  throne  upon  which  was  One  having 
"  the  appearance  of  a  man."  ^ 

This  is  the  spirit  of  the  instruction  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the 
sermon  on  the  mount.  He  enjoins  as  to  alms  and  prayer, 
that  they  be  "in  secret,"  and  "  thy  Father  which  seeth  in 
*  Ezek.  ch.  i. 


secret  himself  shall  reward  thee  openly."  The  whole  Bible 
is  full  of  precepts  which  bind  them  together. 

The  first  desire  and  prayer  of  every  one  that  gives  should 
be  that  his  offering  may  be  "an  odor  of  a  sweet  smell,  a 
sacrifice  acceptable,  well-pleasing  to  God,"  who  "shall  sup- 
ply all  your  need  according  to  his  riches  in  glory  by  Christ 
Jesus."  Our  liberahty  and  self-denial  for  his  sake  will  be 
repaid  "  an  hundred  fold"  if  accepted  in  heaven ;  "for  with 
such  sacrifices  God  is  well  pleased."  John  saw  in  the  last 
judgment  that  "the  books  were  opened"  in  which  are  re- 
corded all  that  we  have  done  for  Christ,  and  "  the  dead  were 
judged  out  of  those  things  which  were  written  in  the  books, 
according  to  theu*  works." * 

But  there  is  a  far  more  important  reason  for  our  accom- 
panying every  gift  of  money  with  prayer:  many  may  be 
saved  thereby.  The  man  whom  God  was  pleased  to  accept 
as  the  first  fruits  of  the  harvest  from  among  the  Gentiles 
was  thus  honored  because  he  "  gave  much  alms  to  the  peo- 
ple, and  prayed  to  God  always. ' '  The  angel  of  God  said  unto 
him,  "Cornelius,  thy  prayer  is  heard,  and  thine  alms  are 
had  in  remembrance  in  the  sight  of  God;"  and  an  apostle 
was  sent  to  him  and  to  his  kinsfolk  and  near  friends,  with 
gracious  tidings  of  salvation,  f  In  public  worship,  and  in 
secret  exercises,  we  should  follow  prayer  by  alms  as  the 
means  of  its  fulfillment.  Prayer  should  be  sealed^  in  plead- 
ing with  a  covenant-keeping  God,  by  alms ;  in  all  nations  a 
contract  is  not  counted  valid  till  it  be  sealed  with  a  payment 
of  money.  Alms  should  be  made  potent  and  successful  in 
their  design  by  praj^cr.     What  multitudes  would  be  con- 

*  Phil.  iv.  18,  19.     Rev.  xx.  12.  f  Acts  x. 


CULTIVATION   OF   PERSONAL  CHARACTER.      219 

verted  to-day,  in  this  and  that  dark  and  unpromising  field 
at  home,  or  abroad,  if  each  dollar  which  is  sent  thither  were 
followed  by  "the  effectual  fervent  prayer"  of  the  giver  for 
God's  Holy  Spirit  to  follow  its  appropriation  with  blessings 
upon  the  labors  of  the  preacher,  the  teacher,  the  physician, 
the  Bible  or  tract  distributor.  The  seed  of  the  word,  wher- 
ever planted,  must  be  steeped  in  prayers  and  tears  to  make 
it  bring  forth  abundantly. 

Beneficence  a  Regular  Principle  of  the  Chris- 
tian Life. 

Another  of  God's  great  designs  in  appointing  this  pri- 
vate setting  apart  was,  doubtless,  that  beneficence  should  be 
made  a  habitual  principle  of  the  life  of  every  Christian. 

Mr.  Barnes,  in  his  explanation  of  the  Divine  Rule, 
presses  strongly  this  feature  of  it.  He  says,"^'  "  '  Let  him  set 
it  apart. '  Let  him  designate  a  certain  portion  ;  let  him  do 
this  ^hy  himself ^^  when  he  is  at  home,  when  he  can  calmly 
look  at  the  evidence  of  his  prosperity.  Let  him  do  it  not 
under  the  influence  of  pathetic  appeals,  or  for  the  sake  of 
display  when  he  is  with  others,  but  let  him  do  it  as  a  matter 
of  principle,  and  when  he  is  by  himself"  "Paul  designed 
that  the  habit  of  doing  good  with  their  money  should  be 
constant.  He  therefore  directed  that  it  should  be  on 
the  return  of  each  Lord's  day,  so  that  the  subject  should 
be  constantly  before  their  minds.  How  much  would  the 
amount  of  charities  be  swelled  in  the  Christian  Church  if  all 
Christians  would  lay  by  in  store  each  week  what  they  then 
could  devote  to  sacred  purposes." 

*  Notes  oil  First  Corinthians. 


The  Divine  Rule  cultivates  individual  giving  from  princi- 
ple. Regularity  in  giving  is  like  regularity  in  eating.  It 
is  healthful ;  the  digestion  is  easy,  and  every  organ  of  the 
frame  is  invigorated ;  the  growth  and  development  of  the 
powers  is  continuous  ;  the  effects  are  good  success,  and  gen- 
uine enjoyment  and  comfort,  in  whatever  work  employs  our 
thoughts  and  strength. 

The  opposite  kind  of  giving  is  that  which  has  made  our 
"Voluntary  System"  objectionable  in  the  eyes  of  Christians 
of  other  lands.  Our  system,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  ever  be 
"voluntary,"  as  not  being  compulsory  by  any  State,  or 
ecclesiastical  enactments.  But  it  certainly  should  not  be 
spontaneous  or  spasmodic. 

"Spontaneous"  is  an  adjective  which  is  defined  to  mean 
that  which  proceeds  from  natural  feeling  or  impulse,  with- 
out consideration,  that  which  is  produced  without  being 
planted,  or  without  cultivation.  Spontaneous  giving  has 
numerous  essential  and  vital  defects.  Its  products  are  some- 
times abundant  and  beautiful ;  but  they  depend  upon  contin- 
gencies of  soil,  and  exposure,  and  want  of  cultivation,  which 
make  them  unreliable  in  any  one  season  or  year.  The  con- 
gregations, or  men,  that  give  in  this  way,  suffer  from  a  sort 
of  religious  epilepsy.  To-day  they  are  in  spasms  and 
fever,  foaming  and  uncontrollable ;  to-morrow  the  fit  is  off, 
and  they  are  exhausted,  fretful  or  stupid,  incapable  of  work. 
And  this  last  state  may  be  long  protracted. 

The  general  effect  of  benevolent  work  carried  on  by  ap- 
peals to  this  kind  of  charity,  is  most  unfavorable  to  its  reg- 
ular and  healthful  development.  It  sometimes  manifests  a 
certain  temporary  energetic  activity.     Its  spirit,  however. 


CULTIVATION   OF   PERSONAL  CHARACTER.      221 

is  material  and  sensational.  Material  interests,  politics, 
calamities,  accidents,  new  agents,  new  measures,  local  or 
occasional  public  excitements,  are  its  natural  themes.  Even 
the  spiritual  experiences  and  hopes  of  the  Church  and  of 
men's  souls  must  be  disp]a3-ed  in  a  sentimental  and  preten- 
tious manner,  which  is  offensive  and  painful  to  genuine  feel- 
ing. Neglect  of  careful  instruction,  levity  of  manner,  coarse 
illustrations,  creep  into  the  pulpit.  The  lust  of  excitement  is 
kindled  in  the  people.  The  mighty  spiritual  motives  of  the 
gospel  evaporate,  and  the  omnipotent  co-operation  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  defeated,  as  the  fertilizing  dews  of  Hermou 
and  Lebanon  are  dried  up  by  a  hot  east  wind  from  the 
deserts  of  Moab. 

Every  Kind  of  Employment  to  be  Spiritualized. 
It  is  a  grand  object  of  the  Divine  Rule  to  infuse  spiritual 
motives  into  all  the  ordinary  employments  of  men's  hands 
and  time. 

The  duty  of  giving  is  taken  up  by  Paul  a  second  time,  in 
another  epistle  to  the  Corinthians.*  The  apostle  in  this 
treats  chiefly  of  the  spiritual  motives  which  should  impel 
liberality — the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  the  exam- 
ple of  it  in  churches  which  abounded  in  it  even  amidst  a 
gi'eat  trial  of  affliction,  and  their  joy  in  it ;  the  lessons  of 
that  divine  providence  which,  as  in  sending  the  manna  of 
old,  vdll  ever  supply  sufficiently  our  wants ;  the  necessity  of 
seeking  and  cultivating  liberality  as  "a  grace,"  just  as  we 
do  knowledge,  faith,  utterance,  and  all  diligence ;  and  the 
assurance  of  proportionate  returns  for  our  faithfulness,  just 
*  Chaps,  viii.  and  ix. 


222      god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

as  the  industry  of  the  sower  ministers  food  and  multiplies 
bread.  "  Bountifulness "  is  part  of  a  spiritual  industry 
by  which  we  are  "  enriched  in  everything." 

The  word  ''righteousness"  is  used  by  Paul  in  a  sense 
which  is  foreign  to  our  modes  of  thought.  He  quotes  from 
the  Old  Testament:  "As  it  is  written,  he  hath  dispersed 
abroad;  he  hath  given  to  the  poor;  his  righteousness  re- 
maineth  for  ever."*  The  word  means  conformity  to  duty 
and  right.  We  call  practical  charity  "benevolence,"  and 
"  beneficence ;"  just  as  if  its  exercise  were  a  matter  of  choice 
and  of  merit.  He  makes  it  a  "  right ' '  of  Christianity — a 
law,  like  "the  law  of  kindness"  which  king  Lemuelf  says 
governs  the  family  of  the  virtuous  woman — a  law,  albeit  a 
' '  law  of  love. ' '  In  Eastern  nations,  where  we  say  ' '  chari- 
table "  they  often  say  "righteous."  One  sees,  for  instance, 
over  the  door  of  what  we  entitle  a  "Charity  School," 
out  of  which  are  flocking  the  children  of  the  poor,  and 
which  is  supported  by  the  contributions  of  those  whom  God 
has  more  abundantly  favored,  the  remarkable  inscription 
"Righteous  School."  In  illustrating  the  duty  of  giv- 
ing, Paul  says  of  the  Macedonians,  "they  first  gave  their 
own  selves  to  the  Lord,  and  unto  us  by  the  will  of  God." 
Thus,  like  faithful  bondmen  to  Christ  and  his  kingdom, 
"beyond  their  power  they  were  willing "  to  give  the  pro- 
ceeds of  their  labor  to  him  and  for  his  service. 

Every  kind  of  business  and  employment  is  to  be  spiritual- 
ized. We  are  to  work  at  the  same  time  for  both  worlds. 
As  Paul  pictures  it,  we  are  not  alone  to  get  upon  the  Rock, 

*  Compare  2  Cor.  ix.  9  with  Ps.  cxii.  9. 
f  Prov.  xxxi.  26. 


CULTIVATION   OF   PERSONAL   CHARACTER.       223 

or  to  be  saved  barely  and  nakedly  "  so  as  by  fire. ' '  We  are 
to  do  more.  We  are  to  be  building  all  that  we  can  of  the 
temple  whose  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones  shall  shine 
out  in  all  their  celestial  and  eternal  glory  on  that  great  day 
when  the  wood,  hay,  and  stubble  of  mere  earthly  posses- 
sions shall  be  swallowed  up  in  the  "fervent  heat."^ 

Augustine,  in  one  of  his  sermons  at  the  Numidian  city 
of  Hippo,  beautifully  represents  this  heavenly  privilege. 
He  says  :t  "  In  a  certain  way  the  Lord  our  God  wishes  us  to 
be  merchantmen.  He  makes  an  exchange  with  us.  We 
give  what  abounds  here,  we  receive  what  abounds  there. 
It  is  just  as  many  transact  commercial  traffic;  they  give 
goods  in  one  country  and  receive  something  else  in  another 
to  which  they  come.  Thus,  for  example,  a  man  says  to  his 
friend,  'Receive  gold  from  me  here  and  give  me  oil  in 
Africa.'  It  is  not  a  transportation,  and  yet  there  is  a 
transportation.  He  gets  what  he  desires.  .  .  .  We  giv.e 
earth,  and  we  receive  heaven.  We  give  the  temporal,  and 
receive  the  eternal.  We  give  things  corruptible,  and  receive 
the  immortal.  Lastly,  we  give  what  God  has  bestowed; 
and  receive  God  himself.  Let  us  not  then  be  slothful  in 
such  a  commerce  as  this.     Let  us  not  continue  poor.  "J 

*  1  Cor.  iii.  11-15.     2  Pet.  iii.  7-13. 

f  Sermon  cxxvii.,  on  1  Tim.  vi.  7-9. 

J  John  Calvin,  in  his  Commentanj  upon  the  rule  in  1  Cor.,  spirit- 
ualizes its  meaning  somewhat  after  the  style  of  Augustine.  He 
says,  "To  'treasure'  is  to  bury.  The  safest  and  best  treasury  is 
the  bestowment  of  things  to  holy  uses.  .  .  .  God  submits  to  be  a 
debtor  to  the  poor,  that  he  may  return  what  we  give  to  him,  with 
ample  interest.  These  words  of  Paul  agree  with  those  of  Christ, 
*  Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasure  on  earth,' "  etc. 


224      god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

Inducement  to  Personal  and  Home  Efforts. 

This  setting  apart  of  money  for  the  Lord  is  designed  to 
induce  Christians  to  engage  in  personal  labors  for  the  spirit- 
ual welfare  of  others,  and  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel. 

A  man  is  to  lay  by  him  at  home,  as  the  original  text 
means.  Christian  influence  should  begin  at  home;  in  one's 
own  family.  For  no  other  human  beings  are  we  so  responsi- 
ble. None  are  so  dear.  None,  if  we  are  what  we  should  be, 
are  so  impressible  by  our  influence.  It  was  a  joyful  thing  for 
Rahab,  when  she  had  gathered  her  kindred  into  her  house, 
and  hung  the  scarlet  Hne  out  of  the  window,  to  know  that 
all  were  safe  from  the  slaughter  of  the  war  without  and 
from  the  burning  of  the  doomed  city.  What  then  will  be 
the  joy  of  the  parents  of  a  saved  family — all  saved ! — in 
the  last  judgment,  and  in  the  burning  of  the  world  ! 

A  capital  secret  of  success  in  guarding  a  home  and  family 
from  evil  is  to  train  them  to  habits  of  active  and  constant 
beneficence  and  usefulness.  Warmth  and  health  are  better 
promoted  by  vigorous  exercise  than  by  wrappings,  and  fires, 
and  stimulating  draughts. 

The  savings  and  the  earnings  of  the  children  and  the 
mother  for  some  Christian  end,  how  they  make  beautiful  and 
fruitful  the  growing  plants !  * '  Home ' '  is  the  chief  and  great 
sphere  for  the  -exercise  of  woman's  peculiar  power.  A 
father  and  mother  should  lovingly  teach  their  children,  like 
the  disciples  of  the  early  Christian  Church,  to  "  make  their 
little  box  a  treasury"  of  "the  church  in  the  house,"  and 
early  form  them  to  habits  of  regular  and  intelligent  acts  of 
charity  and  beneficence.     This  instruction  of  the  children  is 


CULTIVATIOX   OF   PEKSONAL   CHAEACTER.      225 

ike  chief  hope  for  the  adoption  of  a  higher  rule  of  benef- 
iccDce  in  the  entire  Church. 

"Every  one,"  as  the  Divine  Rule  sa.ys,  should  layby  at 
home  in  order  to  make  home  a  centre  from  which  to  reach 
other  families ;  to  originate  personal  efforts  for  the  conver- 
sion of  sinners.  A  package  of  tracts  placed,  as  opportu- 
nity offers,  in  the  hands  of  the  impenitent — a  gift  of  a  suit- 
able book  to  the  inquirer,  or  to  the  afflicted  one — a  warm 
garment  to  a  poor  child  or  adult — some  judicious  help  to- 
ward restoring  a  jjoor  fallen  one — a  timely  gift  to  a  poor  stu- 
dent— a  sum  placed  in  the  hands  of  pastor  or  deacons  for 
special  objects — a  remittance  to  help  one  of  the  organs  of 
the  Church  in  its  appointed  work,  in  some  trying  emergency 
— if  the  little  sums  of  each  private  treasury,  in  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  sympathizing  and  praying  families,  could  be  set 
flowing  for  such  uses,  as  the  spirit  of  this  Rule  indicates,  the 
whole  fabric  of  society  would,  in  a  little  time,  begin  to  feel 
that  a  new  power  was  moving  and  elevating  it. 

We  should  imitate  the  life  on  earth  of  Jesus  Christ, 
"the  friend  of  sinners."  We  should  go  in  person  to  con- 
vey our  charities.  "  It  is,"  says  Gruthrie,  "  less  the  amount 
given  than  the  way  of  giving  it  that  sweetens  the  cup  of 
poverty  and  reconciles  the  pensioners  of  our  bounty  to  their 
lot.  Those  kind  looks  and  tones  which  bespeak  the  feelings 
of  the  heart,  you  cannot  transmit  with  the  goods  or  gold, 
the  meat  or  messages  which  you  send  through  the  medium 
of  servants  or  societies,  or  any  second  party  whatever.  As 
far  as  possible,  therefore,  every  one  should  be  the  almoner 
of  his  own  charities,  and  carry  the  sunbeams  of  his  pres- 

15 


226     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

ence  into  the  lionies  of  the  poor."  ..."  Speak  as  Christ, 
had  he  been  in  our  circumstances,  would  have  spoken  ;  feel 
as  he  would  have  felt;  act  as  he  would  have  acted. ""^ 

The  profession  of  union  to  Christ  gives  to  every  "mem- 
ber" of  his  spiritual  body  not  alone  a  place,  but  some  office 
and  duty  to  perform  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole.  Time 
does  not  allow  the  illustration  of  this  evident  vital  principle 
of  the  Christian  life  from  the  Scriptures,  from  the  example 
of  the  Primitive  Church,  and  from  the  lives  of  the  converts 
from  heathenism  in  our  foreign  mission  fields.  We  may 
only  cite  an  interesting  extract  from  the  "  Catholic  Epistle 
of  Barnabas,"  one  of  the  earliest  Christian  writings  extant. 
Barnabas,  or  the  writer  of  it,  exhorts  the  believers  in  Christ 
to  unceasing  acts  and  labors  of  charity.  He  says  if  "Call 
to  remembrance,  day  and  night,  the  future  judgment.  Thou 
shalt  seek  out  every  day  the  persons  of  the  righteous,  and 
both  consider  and  go  about  to  save  others  by  the  Word,  and 
meditate  how  thou  mayest  save  a  soul.  Thou  shalt  also 
labor  with  thy  hands  to  give  to  the  poor  that  thy  sins  may 
be  forgiven  thee.  Thou  shalt  not  hesitate  whether  thou 
shouldest  give,  nor  having  given  murmur  at  it.  Give  to 
every  one  that  asketh,  so  shalt  thou  know  who  is  the  good 
Rewarder  of  thy  gifts. ' ' 

The  late  admiral  Foote  was  an  example  of  one  who  made 
his  calling  a  means  of  serving  Christ.  During  a  visit  to 
Siam  he  was  entertained  at  a  royal  dinner.  On  taking  his 
seat  at  the  table,  he  bent  his  head  and  asked  a  blessing  upon 
the  food  and  guests.    The  king  was  surprised,  and  remarked 

*■  Our  Father's  Business,  chap.  iv. 
f  Epistle,  sec.  xiv. 


/ 

CULTIVATION   OF   PERSONAL   CHARACTER.       227 

that  he  had  supposed  such  a  custom  belonged  only  to  the 
missionaries.  ''''Every  Christian  is  a  missionary, ^^  re])lied 
the  faithful  admiral.  The  foreign  missionary  work  has 
been  greatly  indebted  to  some  naval  officers,  merchants 
and  officers  of  government,  who  have  acted  upon  the  con- 
viction that  "every  Christian  is  a  missionary."  Is  it  not 
as  true  of  those  who  are  at  home  ?  Has  not  every  man 
and  woman  a  mission  field  within  reach,  in  which  there  are 
many  of  those  which  are  lost  to  seek  and  save,  for  whom  to 
spend  and  be  spent  ? 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  SAFEGUARD   OF  RELIGIOUS  AND  CIVIL 
LIBERTY. 

YOU  hold  in  your  hand  a  United  States  legal-tender  note. 
Consider  it  minutely.  There  is  stated  upon  it  the  Act 
of  Congress  which  authorized  it.  You  see  no  such  paper  or 
declaration  from  a  heathen  or  Mohammedan  government. 
This  fastens  our  attention  upon  all  the  chain  of  history 
which  preceded  that  Act,  and  shaped  it,  the  growth  of  Chris- 
tianity, our  long  struggles  for  civil  liberty,  the  Magna  Charta 
in  the  meadow  at  Runnymede,  the  bloody  wars,  the  succes- 
sive revolutions,  the  refuge  and  conflicts  in  a  new  world,  the 
establishment  of  methods  for  securing  the  representation  of 
the  rights  of  every  man  in  every  law  that  is  made,  and  in 
every  dollar  of  tax  that  is  laid  upon  his  property  and  labor. 
All  those  centuries  of  Christian  influences  and  development 
of  civil  rights  are  represented  in  that  note.  The  pictures 
of  the  capitol  and  of  historical  scenes,  the  portraits  of  de- 
ceased presidents  and  statesmen,  are  designed  to  impress 
these  remembrances. 

To  place  that  note  in  your  hand,  there  were  necessary 
meetings  of  the  state  legislatures  to  choose  senators,  and  elec- 
tions in  every  community  for  members  of  the  house  of  rep- 
resentatives, who  were  to  consult  and  authorize  the  issue ; 
the  consent  of  the  President  as  chief  of  the  executive  de- 
partment of  the  government ;  and  systems  of  revenue  with 
228 


THE     SAFEGUARD    OF   LIBERTY.  229 

all  their  vast  machinery  of  men,  and  property,  and  armed 
power,  to  provide  means  to  make  good  the  "promise  to 
pay."  Without  all  this  authority  and  these  provisions, 
these  paper  pledges  would  be  worthless. 

The  payment  is  guarded  by  an  immense  array  of  checks 
and  balances ;  by  signatures  of  officers  responsible  to  the 
government ;  by  careful  records  of  every  series  of  issues  and 
of  every  payment  made ;  and  by  the  placing  of  its  proper 
number  on  each  note  of  the  millions  that  are  put  forth. 

Acts  of  counterfeiting,  or  tampering  with  the  note  you 
hold,  are  prevented  or  punished  bj^  legal  enactments ;  by  a 
complicated  judiciary  system  ;  by  universal  police  agencies. 

Expensive  machinery,  and  the  aid  of  numerous  sciences 
and  arts,  are  applied  to  make  the  note  easily  distinguish- 
able, and  secure  from  imitation. 

It  is  by  such  reflections  as  these,  upon  forms  or  usages 
which  are  so  common  that  it  is  only  now  and  then  we  are  led 
to  remember  that  they  are  the  fruit  of  a  tree  which  has 
been  eighteen  centuries  in  ripening,  and  which  is  a  graft 
from  another  tree  which  had  been  growing  as  much  longer 
in  Palestine,  that  we  are  brought  to  conceive  and  realize 
how  sacred  is  the  trust  of  money  in  the  theory  and  organi- 
zation of  the  State,  how  jealously  it  is  guarded  by  the  State 
on  every  side,  and  with  what  exceeding  watchfulness  every 
payment  of  it  is  regarded. 

The  final  object  is  to  secure  perfectly  the  rights  of  the 
individual.  It  is  to  guard  the  proceeds  of  his  labor.  It  is 
to  fulfill  the  expression  of  his  will  as  to  how  a  reasonable 
share  of  those  proceeds  shall  be  applied  for  the  maintenance 
of  order  and  the  punishment  of  crime. 


230      god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

How  precious  to  us  beyond  description  is  the  civil  and 
religious  liberty  to  whicli  through  so  many  generations  of 
growth  and  conflict  we  have  attained  !  What  so  important 
as  to  preserve  it,  to  use  it  wisely,  and  to  transmit  it  to  our 
children !  How  necessary  for  the  Church  of  Christ,  which 
after  so  long  a  time  has  come  to  the  enjoyment  of  this  lib- 
erty, thoroughly  to  inform  herself  as  to  its  meaning,  and  to 
fortify  it  by  such  methods  as  the  Giver  of  all  good  has  or- 
dained,- that  it  may  not  again  be  insidiously  or  wrongfully 
taken  from  us,  or  from  those  to  come  after  us. 

Let  us  trace,  for  a  moment,  the  great  sources  of  religious 
and  civil  liberty.  This  will  prepare  us  to  estimate  aright 
the  provision  for  its  preservation  which  God  has  made  in 
the  Rule  for  Christian  Giving. 

The  Three  Chief  Seats  of  Religious  and  Civil 
Liberty. 

It  is  one  of  the  extraordinary  coincidences  of  history, 
which  all  are  not  of  chance,  that  peculiar  analogies  to  each 
other  have  existed  in  the  origin  and  constitution  of  three 
nations  which  have  been  the  chief  seats  of  religious  and 
civil  freedom— Israel,  Switzerland,  and  the  United  States 
of  America. 

Israel  was  a  confederation  of  thirteen  republics ;  the  two 
sons  of  Joseph  being  constituted  the  heads  of  distinct  tribes — 
though  the  tribe  of  Levi,  performing  the  universal  duties 
of  priests,  judges,  and  physicians,  was  only  allotted  forty- 
eight  cities,  which  were  distributed  among  the  territories 
allotted  to  the  other  twelve  tribes,  and  its  sustenance  was 
provided  for  by  the  offerings  to  the  Lord. 


THE   SAFEGUARD   OF   LIBERTY.  231 

The  resemblance  of  the  constitutions  of  Israel  and  Swit- 
zerland long  ago  attracted  the  notice  of  scholars.  Professor 
Michaelis,  of  Gottingen,  in  the  last  century,  said,*  "The 
constitution  of  Israel  may  be  considered  as  in  some  mea- 
sure resembling  that  of  Switzerland,  where  thirteen  cantons, 
of  which  each  has  a  government  of  its  own  and  exercises 
the  right  of  war,  are  all  united  into  one  great  republic. 
All  the  twelve  tribes  had  at  least  one  common  weal.  They 
had  general  Diets,  of  which  we  find  examples  in  the  twenty- 
third  and  twenty-fourth  chapters  of  Joshua.  They  were 
bound,  at  least  by  law  and  compact,  to  take  the  field  against 
a  common  enemy."  "  The  form  of  the  republic  established 
by  Moses  was  democratic.  Its  head  admitted  of  change 
as  to  the  name  and  nature  of  his  ofiice,  and  we  find  that,  at 
certain  times,  it  could  subsist  without  a  general  head." 
"  Moses  seems  to  have  been  very  desirous  that  the  nation 
of  Israel  should  always  preserve  the  constitution  of  a  free 
republic,"  still  he  "allows  the  Israehtes  the  choice  of  a 
king,"  but  "specifies  the  limitations  of  his  power,"  and 
"  that  they  must  never  elect  a  foreigner. "  f  , 

While  this  scholar  was  preparing  for  publication  these 
observations,  thirteen  colonies  in  the  wilderness  of  the  New 
World,  of  which  he  took  little  thought,  were  holding  their 
counsels  preparatory  to  forming  a  republic  now  ten  times 
greater  than  either  of  the  two  preceding,  in  the  constitution 
of  which  most  of  the  principles  indicated  are  embodied, 
along  with  others  which  secure,  we  trust,  permanent  free- 

*  Comment's  on  the  Laics  of  Moses,  b.  II.,  chap.  vi.  and  vii.,  pub- 
lished in  six  volumes,  in  1770-1775. 
f  Compare  Deut.  xvii.  14-20. 


dom  to  its  people  in  the  state  and  in  religion — a  republic 
whose  power,  knowledge,  and  wealth  we  would  fain  hope 
will  be  consecrated  to  the  God  of  Israel,  and  thus  make  it 
like  Israel  a  light  to  all  lands. 

Now  let  us  consider  attentively  the  source  of  our  free  in- 
stitutions, in  the  appointments  which  God  made  for  the 
people  of  the  Israelitish  republic.  We  will  find  in  those 
ordinances  the  germs  of  all  our  ideas  and  rights  of  this  kind. 

Education  of  Israel  in  the  Spirit  of  Liberty. 

The  original  constitution  of  the  Jewish  theocracy  was 
truly  wonderful  for  that  age  and  for  that  quarter  of  the 
world.  Both  the  religious  and  civil  elements  of  govern- 
nient  fostered  independence,  freedom,  and  the  dignity  of 
the  individual ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  as  the  highest  means 
of  producing  such  a  character,  encouraged  acts  of  direct 
approach  to  God,  communion  with  him,  and  responsibility 
to  him  as  Creator,  Lord,  and  Final  Judge.  All  worship  of 
the  Jews  had  to  be  voluntary,  else  it  was  not  acceptable. 
God  said  to  Moses,  "Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel, 
that  they  bring  me  an  offering ;  of  every  man  that  giveth 
it  willingly  with  his  heart  ye  shall  take  my  offering."  It 
was  said  that,  without  the  spirit  of  iiereonal  respect,  "he 
that  killeth  an  ox  is  as  if  he  slew  a  man  :  he  that  sacrificeth 
a  lamb  as  if  he  cut  off  a  dog's  neck."* 

In  all  acts  of  religious  worship  the  people  were  taught  the 
principle  of  equal  rights,  equal  acceptance,  and  equal  ac- 
countability, before  God,  whatsoever  the  cartlily  distinctions. 
"The  rich  and  the  poor  meet  together;  the  Lord  is  the 
*  Ex.  XXV.  2.     Isa.  Ixvi.  3. 


THE   SAFEGUARD   OF   LIBERTY.  233 

maker  of  them  all."  Special  concessions  were  made  as  to 
the  animals,  or  quantities  of  the  materials,  to  be  offered  in 
the  sacrifices  and  oblations  of  the  poor ;  and  generous  pro- 
visions for  their  relief  and  protection.  But  the  equality  of 
their  personal  relations  to  God  was  assured  in  such  laws  as 
that  requiring  of  "every  one"  "an  half  shekel"  as  a  special 
memorial  unto  the  Lord  "to  make  atonement  for  their 
souls;"  "the  rich  shall  not  give  more  and  the  poor  shall 
not  give  less  than  half  a  shekel."  "Every  male"  in  the 
nation  must  come,  three  times  in  the  year,  from  whatever 
distance  in  the  land  his  home  might  be,  to  render  personal 
worship  at  the  temple. 

In  numerous  forms,  direct  vows,  oblations  of  gratitude  for 
particular  mercies  to  self  and  the  family,  and  acts  of  special 
covenant  with  God,  were  encouraged.  "Either  man  or 
woman"  was  explicitly  authorized  "to  separate  themselves 
to  vow  a  vow  of  a  Nazarite  unto  the  Lord. ' '  And  the  people 
were  taught  that  the  priestly  tribe  was  but  a  substitute  of 
convenience  for  the  first-born  son  of  every  family.  The 
final  principle  as  to  all  God's  people  is:  "Ye  are  a  roj'al 
priesthood. ' '  Thus  every  institution  of  the  old  dispensation 
seems  designed  to  teach  them  the  dignity  of  their  high 
calling.* 

Forms  of  Presentation  of  Offerings. 

One  of  the  most  efficient  guarantees  of  religious  and  civil 
freedom  to  the  Jew  was  one  which  delivered  him  from  any 
interference  of  others  in  the  choice  and  presentation  of  all 

*  Prov.  xxii.  2.  Ex.  xxx.  15;  xxiii.  17.  Num.  vi.  1-6.  1  Pet. 
ii.  9. 


234     god's  rule  foe  christian  giving. 

that  he  gave  to  purposes  of  worship  and  the  maintenance 
of  the  priesthood  and  its  related  civil  offices :  he  was  always 
required  to  '*  hring'' '  in  person  all  his  offerings.  If  sacrifices 
were  to  be  made,  it  is  said,  a  score  of  times,  every  man 
"shall  hring  them  unto  the  Lord;"  or  he  "shall  hring 
them  unto  the  door  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation  ; ' ' 
or  he  "  shall  hring  them' '  ' '  unto  the  priest. " *  If  first  fruits 
were  offered,  a  singularly  beautiful  act  was  performed.  The 
law  said,t  "  Thou  shalt  take  of  all  the  fruits  of  the  earth, 
which  thou  shalt  bring  of  thy  land  that  the  Lord  thy  God 
giveth  thee,  and  shalt  put  it  in  a  basket,  and  shalt  go  unto 
the  place  which  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  choose  to  put  his 
name  there  ;  and  thou  shalt  go  unto  the  priest  that  shall  be 
in  those  days,  and  say  unto  him,  '  I  profess  this  day  unto 
the  Lord  thy  God,  that  I  am  come  unto  the  country  which 
the  Lord  sware  unto  our  fathers  for  to  give  us;'  and  the 
priest  shall  take  the  basket  out  of  thine  hand,  and  set  it 
down  before  the  altar  of  the  Lord  thy  God."  Then  the 
donor  was  required  to  recount  God's  great  goodness  in  bring- 
ing the  nation  out  of  Egypt,  and  say  :  "  and  he  hath  brought 
us  into  this  place  and  hath  given  us  this  land,  even  a  land 
that  floweth  with  milk  and  honey  :  and  now  behold  1  have 
brought  the  first  fruits  of  the  land  which  thou,  0  Lord, 
hast  given  me."  And,  he  is  instructed,  "  thou  shalt  set  it 
before  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  worship  before  the  Lord 
thy  God." 

When  the  Lord  is  angry  with  Israel  for  their  negligence, 
what  does  he  do  ?    Rebuke  the  priests  and  Levites  for  not 
going  about  and  gathering  the  fruits  of  the  ground  and 
*  Lev.  ch.  iv.,  v.,  vi.,  etc.  t  I>eut.  xxvi.  1-11. 


THE   SAFEGUARD   OF  LIBERTY.  235 

money  due  to  his  service  ?  No !  He  rebukes  the  people 
for  not  themselves  hrmgiiig  them.  "Bring  ye  all  the  tithes 
into  the  storehouse."  In  the  days  of  great  revival,  when 
the  nation  is  stirred  with  zeal  for  the  building  of  the  taber- 
nacle, or  the  first  or  the  second  temple,  the  people  "bring 
the  offerings  into  the  house  of  the  Lord,"  so  that  there  is 
abundance,  and  perhaps  "  a  great  store"  is  left.* 

Oriental  Treasuries. 

In  the  large  enclosures,  and  numerous  edifices  connected 
with  a  temple  in  the  East,  abundant  provision  is  made  for 
treasuries  and  depositories  of  various  kinds  in  which  money, 
valuable  gifts  made  of  gold,  silver  and  other  materials,  and 
oblations  of  grain,  clothing,  and  other  articles  of  use,  can  be 
received  and  stored.  So  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  there 
were  treasuries  of  gold,  silver  and  "dedicated  things,"  the 
pattern  of  which  David,  by  Divine  instruction,  gave  to  Sol- 
omon. These  arrangements  were  restored  by  Nehemiah 
in  rebuilding  the  temple  after  the  captivity,  f 

Some  of  the  most  interesting  passages  in  the  life  of  Christ 
are  those  pictures  of  him  by  the  four  evangelists  which  show 
him  sitting  in  this  part  of  the  sacred  enclosure,  to  instruct 
the  people  who  came  to  bring  their  gifts,  as  to  the  true 
principles  of  religious  beneficence.  J  The  gifts  of  money 
were  cast  into  chests  with  trumpet-shaped  mouths.  I    The 

«-  Mai.  iii.  10.     2  Chrou.  xxxi.  10. 
1 1  Chron.  xxviii.  12  ;  xxvi.  20.     Neb.  xii.  44. 
X  Mark  xii.  41-44.     Matt.  xxii.  15-22.     John  viii.  1-20.     Mark 
xi.  12-19 ;  and  Matt.  vi.  1-4. 

§  2  Kings  xii.  4-15.     Comp.  Josephus,  Jewish  Antiq.,  IX.,  riii.  2. 


synagogue  service,  after  which  that  of  the  New  Testament 
Church  was  formed,  reqmred  collections  for  religious  uses 
to  be  made  each  Sabbath.  Chests  were  provided  near  the 
door  in  which  the  mone^^  was  dropped  as  worshipers  passed 
in  or  out.  The  Christian  Church  continued  this  usage. 
Our  Lord  apparently  indicated  in  the  sermon  on  the  mount 
the  duty  of  guarding  against  ostentation  in  this  act,  which 
many  did  "to  be  seen  of  men  "  in  that  public  place.  The 
early  Christian  writers  mention  boxes,  chests,  treasuries,  or 
depositories,  by  different  names,  according  to  their  size  and 
character.* 

The  Permanent  Guaranty  of  Liberty. 

The  Divine  Head  of  the  Church,  in  giving  to  his  people 
an  ordinance  designed  to  be  universal  in  all  lands,  whereso- 
ever it  shall  be  successively  planted,  and  to  be  its  guide  for 
all  time  in  so  vital  a  matter  as  the  collection  of  money  for 
its  support  and  dissemination,  illustrated  his  omniscience 
by  including  in  it  the  best  human  safeguard  of  religious  and 
civil  libertj^  He  makes  it  the  duty  of  each  individual  "  him- 
self'' to  "treasure,"  or  "put  in  the  treasury" — that  is,  to 
bring  and  deposit,  or  contribute,  in  person — his  weekly  accu- 
mulations. 

The  illustrations  of  the  meaning  of  this  appointment 
which  we  have  drawn  from  the  former  dispensation  are  so 
plain  and  full  that  not  much  more  need  be  added  here.  All 
contributions  must  be  made  willingly.  "Every  man  accord- 
ing as  he  purposeth  in  his  heart,  so  let  him  give,  not  grudg- 
ingly or  of  necessity ;  for  God  loveth  a  cheerful  giver. " f    The 

*  Such  as  O-qaavpo^,  k1^u}t6<;,  ki/BoStiov,  yd^a,  ya^o4)v\(xKLOv,  area,  gaza, 
thesaurus,  etc.  ■\  2  Cor.  ix.  7. 


SAFEGtJAKD   OP   LIBERTY.  237 

gifts  must  be  made  in  such  amounts,  at  such  times,  and  for 
such  objects  as  each  one  chooses,  subject  only  to  such  gene- 
ral arrangements  as  are  required  to  facilitate  them.  There 
should  be  some  means  of  designating  their  objects ;  which, 
with  the  present  conveniences,  may  be  easily  done  by  using 
envelopes.  It  is  a  matter  of  choice  whether  the  offerings 
be  placed  in  suitable  boxes  at  the  door,  or  be  collected  by 
the  deacons,  or  be  laid  upon  a  table  at  the  close  of  the  ser- 
vice. The  former  was  the  ordinary  and  for  some  reasons  the 
preferable  plan.  The  object  is  to  cultivate  the  spirit  of 
Christ's  admonition,  that  the  act  be  done,  as  its  first  end, 
with  reference  to  our  Father  who  seeth  the  secret  purposes, 
and  will  give  effect  to  them,  and  bless  us,  on  earth  and  in 
heaven,  openly ;  and  that  it  be  associated  with  the  motives 
which  are  embodied  in  this  Divine  Rule.*  Such  gifts  as 
are  designed  for  the  poor  may  be  left  in  the  hands  of  the 
minister  and  deacons  to  distribute,  yet  what  is  bestowed  on 
the  poor  will  come  better  from  the  giver  himself. 

But  it  is  clear  that  undiscriminating  general  collections 
left  to  be  divided,  not  according  to  the  will  of  the  giver, 
but  the  will  of  a  church  session,  or  according  to  proportion- 
ate allotments  of  a  presbytery,  synod,  or  general  assembly, 
are  not  in  the  spirit  of  the  Eule. 

Importance  of  this  Guaranty. 

It  is  of  the  first  importance  so  to  frame  all  the  arrangements 

in  relation  to  contributions  of  money  in  the  Church  as  to 

maintain  the  principle  of  the  ordinance  that  the  individual 

shall  himself  "lay  by  him,"  and  put  into  the  treasuries, 

*  See  more  especially  Part  L,  chap,  iv.,  and  Part  II.,  chap,  iii.,  etc. 


and  control  the  use  of,  the  money  which  he  gives  to  relig- 
ious objects.  And  every  financial  scheme  in  the  Church  of 
Christ  is  fraught  with  danger  which  does  not  cuUivate  relig- 
ious freedom,  provide  for  intelligent  acquaintance  with  all  the 
objects  and  the  agencies  placed  before  us  as  channels  for  our 
benevolence,  and  promote  an  ever-increasing  realization  of 
our  personal  obligations  to  God  and  our  final  account  to  him. 
It  has  been  one  of  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of 
the  Calvinistic  and  Presbyterian  bodies  in  Christ's  Church, 
in  all  ages,  to  give  great  consideration  to  principles ;  and  to 
resist  the  beginnings  of  those  practices  which  other  branches 
of  Christianity  have  allowed  to  go  on  and  obtain  power, 
until  they  have  been  overwhelmed  with  the  disastrous  re- 
sults. The  lessons  of  the  past  with  regard  to  the  dangers 
connected  with  the  collection  of  money  are  of  special  inter- 
est to  us.  The  rights  of  the  people  cannot,  in  the  light  of 
them,  be  guarded  with  too  much  jealousy.  How  small  the 
beginnings  of  the  gigantic  and  tremendous  corruptions  of 
the  Middle  Ages!  The  pastors  of  rich  churches  became 
proud  and  assuming.  Disparity  of  the  ministry  grew  and 
became  settled.  Various  orders  and  grades  were  created. 
The  most  powerful  in  the  cities  were  denominated  distinct- 
ively "bishops."  Grand  church  edifices  were  erected,  and 
lavishly  adorned.  Confiscated  heathen  temples  were  adapt- 
ed to  Christian  worship,  retaining  their  statues  and  symbols 
under  Christian  names.  The  ceremonies  of  worship  be- 
came pompous  and  sensual.  The  Holy  Spirit  took  his 
flight ;  religion  became  a  thing  of  forms  and  ordinances. 
The  revenues  which  had  flowed  in  out  of  principles  of  grace 
and  of  missionary  zeal  were  demanded  by  definite  enact- 


THE   SAFEGUARD   OF    LIBERTY.  239 

ments  of  councils,  and  enforced  by  the  arm  of  tlie  civil 
ruler.  The  prostitution  of  the  Church  to  the  State,  and, 
in  turn,  the  lewd  and  imperious  despotism  of  the  Church 
over  the  State,  and  all  the  horrid  impiety  and  debauchery 
of  the  Dark  Ages,  were  the  results. 

Republicanism  of  the  Apostolic  Church. 
The  primitive  church  was  republican,  founded  upon  the 
thirteen  apostles.  There  was  a  complete  parity  of  its 
tribes,  and  a  complete  parity  of  its  ministry.  There  was  no 
principle  more  jealously  guarded  than  that  of  the  equality 
of  its  membership  in  the  church,  and  before  Jesus  Christ  its 
Lord.  The  rich  man  "with  a  gold  ring  and  in  goodly  ap- 
parel "  was  not  to  be  set  higher,  or  his  gifts  esteemed  more, 
than  the  "poor  man  in  vile  raiment,"  for  with  the  "Lord 
Jesus  Christ  the  Lord  of  glory"  there  is  no  "respect  of 
persons."^  Numerous  proofs  of  this  principle  in  the  life 
and  teaching  of  Christ,  and  in  those  of  the  apostles,  rise  at 
once  in  every  mind  instructed  in  the  Scriptures.  The  fruits 
of  the  restoration  of  this  faith  and  principle  of  church  order 
are  seen  in  all  the  history  of  the  creed  of  John  Calvin  and 
John  Knox,  and  of  the  colonization  from  the  lands  which 
held  it  to  this  continent,  whose  institutions  took  their  shape 
and  impress  from  its  order,  and  their  life  from  its  spirit ; 
for  our  Revolution  was  the  successful  struggle  in  a  new  field 
of  republicanism  in  Church  and  State  against  monarchism 
in  both. 

Effect  of  Principle  of  Individuality  upon  Society. 
The  effect  of  the  principle,  which  in  this  chapter  and 

"•••  James  v.  1-5. 


240     god's  kule  for  christian  giving. 

others  previous  we  have  been  tracing,  upon  society,  is  thus 
described  by  an  eminent  American  political  economist:* 

"A  quality  by  which  man  is  distinguished  from  other 
animals  is  individuaUty.  The  greater  the  variety  of  em- 
ployments, and  the  greater  the  demand  for  intellectual  eflfort, 
the  more  dissimilar  become  the  parts,  and  the  more  perfect 
becomes  the  whole.  In  every  society  there  exists  a  vast 
amount  of  latent  capacity  waiting  but  the  opportunity  to 
show  itself;  and  thus  it  is  that  in  communities  in  which 
there  is  no  diversity  of  employments,  the  intellectual  power 
is  to  so  great  an  extent  wasted,  producing  no  result.  Life 
has  been  defined  as  being  a  mutual  exchange  of  relations ; 
where  difference  does  not  exist,  exchanges  cannot  take 
place.  The  more  perfect  the  organization  of  society  the 
greater  the  variety  of  demands  for  the  exercise  of  the  phys- 
ical and  intellectual  powers,  and  the  higher  will  be  the  ele- 
vation of  man  as  a  whole." 

"Next  among  these  qualities  irresponsibility  before  his 
fellow-men  and  before  his  Creator  for  his  actions.  Respon- 
sibility grows  with  the  growth  of  individuality.  And  with 
every  step  toward  perfect  individuality  men  learn  more  and 
more  to  appreciate  their  severe  responsibility  toward  society 
at  large  and  toward  their  Creator  for  the  careful  preparation 
of  their  children  for  the  performance  of  their  duties  to  both. ' ' 

Religious  the  Foundation  of  Civil  Liberty. 

Religious  liberty  is  the  ground  of  that  of  the  State.  With- 
out a  solid  foundation  there,  civil  liberty  cannot  be  compre- 
hended, or  established,  or  maintained.    Of  this  we  have  most 

-Henry  C.  Carey,  PHuciples  of  Sucial  Science,  chap.  ii. 


THE    SAFEGUARD    OF   LIBERTY.  241 

Bad  illustrations  in  the  vain  efforts  of  Romanist  nations  to  im- 
itate our  republican  institutions.  The  ablest  statesmen  aver 
this  truth.  Mr.  Webster  says:*  "To  the  free  and  univer- 
Bal  reading  of  the  Bible  men  were  much  indebted  for  right 
views  of  civil  liberty.  The  Bible  is  a  book  of  faith,  a  book 
of  doctrine,  a  book  of  morals,  and  a  book  of  religion,  of  spe- 
cial revelation  from  God  ;  but  it  is  also  a  book  which  teaches 
man  his  own  individual  responsibility,  his  own  dignity,  and 
his  equality  with  his  fellow-man." 

The  historian  Bancroft  vividly  describes  the  powerful 
influence  of  Calvinism  upon  Europe  in  the  Reformation. 
"  It  aroused  every  intelligence  to  acts  of  private  judgment ; 
changed  a  dependent,  recipient  people  into  a  reflecting,  in- 
quiring people ;  lifted  each  human  being  out  of  the  castes 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  to  endow  him  with  individuality ;  and 
summoned  man  to  stand  forth  as  man."  "Longing  to  in- 
troduce the  I'eign  of  righteousness,  it  invited  every  man  to 
read  the  Bible,  and  made  itself  dear  to  the  common  mind 
by  teaching  as  a  divine  revelation  the  unity  of  the  race  and 
the  natural  equality  of  man."t 

The  wise  Lieber+  shows  the  very  great  dangers  of  the 
centralization  of  power,  and  the  necessity  of  sufficient 
checks  and  balances  to  it:  "Power,  according  to  its  inher- 
ent nature,  goes  on  increasing,  until  checked.  Montesquieu 
says,  '  It  is  a  lasting  experience  that  every  man  who  has 
power  is  brought  to  the  abuse  of  it.  He  goes  on  until 
he  finds  its  limits.'  And  it  is  so  with  'every  man,'  be- 
cause it  lies  in  the  very  nature  of  power  itself." 

*  Works,  i,,  102.  f  History  of  United  States,  iv.,  151-154. 

J  Civil  Liberty  and  Self  Godernment,  I.,  169. 
16 


CHAPTER    XIII. 
THE  MEASURE  OF  CHRISTIAN  GIVING. 

TT7HAT  do  men  think  of  the  farmer  who,  coming  into  a 
'  '  heritage  of  many  broad  and  fertile  fields,  greedily 
eats  up  the  stores  of  wealth  which  have  been  accumulated, 
and  stingily  puts  into  the  ground  for  future  seed  only 
handfuls  where  he  should  scatter  bushels?  What  of  the 
merchant  who  ruins  a  great  commercial  venture  by  dishon- 
esty in  light  weights  and  short  measures?  What  of  the 
king  going  to  make  war  against  another  king,  who  sends  ten 
thousand  to  meet  him  that  comes  against  him  with  twenty 
thousand,  opposes  men  naked  and  hungry  and  unarmed 
against  a  well-appointed  and  disciplined  army,  and  thus 
insanely  and  shamefully  sacrifices  the  welfiire  of  his  people 
and  kingdom  ?  By  such  common  and  absolute  necessities, 
and  by  men's  instinctive  condemnation  of  those  who  neglect 
the  means  by  which  they  are  to  be  provided  for,  we  see 
illustrated  the  importance  of  the  closing  provision  of  the 
Divine  Rule  for  Christian  Giving — that  is,  that  the  ad- 
vancement of  religion  in  the  world,  being  done  through 
human  instruments  and  common  means,  requires  expendi- 
tures of  labor  and  money  proportionable  to  the  ends  in 
view.  As  our  Lord  Jesus  says,  we  must  sit  down  and  count 
the  cost,  and  adapt  means  with  reference  to  their  sufficiency 

242 


THE   MEASURE   OF   CHEISTIAX   GIVING.       243 

for  the  designs.  It  is  tempting  God,  rejecting  his  provi- 
dential arrangements,  and  making  all  that  behold  it  begin 
to  mock,  when  that  sufficiency  is  not  weighed,  and  its  re- 
quirements fully  met.  Christ  says  that  those  who  do  not 
count  and  pay  the  cost  of  his  service  cannot  be  his  disci- 
ples.* 

The  measure  of  Christian  giving  is  the  subject  of  the  last 
provision  of  the  Divine  Rule.  It  is  one  with  which  the 
earnest  soul  of  the  apostle  is  full.  "0  ye  Corinthians!" 
he  cries  out  beneath  the  painful  burthen  of  it,  "  our  mouth 
is  open  unto  you  ;  our  heart  is  enlarged  !  Ye  are  not  strait- 
ened in  us,  but  ye  are  straitened  in  your  own  bowels,  "f  Oh 
learn  mercy  and  charity!  "For  ye  know  the  grace  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  your 
sakes  he  became  poor,  that  ye  through  his  poverty  might  be 
rich."  Do  we  not  approve  ourselves  to  be  his  ministers  by 
our  sacrifices  for  you — choosing  to  be  poor,  yet  making  many 
rich ;  having  nothing,  yet  possessing  all  things ;  and  seek- 
ing to  inspire  you  with  the  same  self-denial,  and  liberality, 
and  zeal !  "  This  I  say.  He  which  soweth  sparingly  shall 
reap  also  sparingly ;  and  he  which  so\yeth  bountifully  shall 
reap  also  bountifully. ' '  % 

Interpretation  of  the  Words. 
Paul  concludes,  by  inspiration  from  Grod,  the  great  rule 
for  Christian  giving  by  affixing  a  standard,  or  measure,  for 
our  government  in  performing  this  vital  duty  of  the  Chris- 
tian life.     He  says  it  should  be,  in  the  words  of  our  com- 

«■  Luke  xiv.  28-33.  j  2  Cor.  vi.  11,  12.  +  2  Cor.  vi.  11,  12; 
viii.  9;  is.  6. 


244     god's  rule  for  chPwIstian  giving. 

mon  version,  "as  God  hath  prospered.""^  Hodge  says: 
"literally,  ''whatever  has  gone  ivell  loith  him.''  He  was  to 
lay  aside  what  by  his  success  in  business  he  was  able  to  give. 
This  is  another  principle  which  the  apostle  would  have 
Christians  to  act  upon.  Their  contributions  should  be  in 
proportion  to  their  means."  Alvord  translates  the  words, 
"whatsoever  he  may  by  prosperity  have  acquired."  01s- 
hausen  understands  it,  "as  far  as  the  circumstances  of  each 
sanction  it."  Scott  says,  "let  every  man  treasure  up  a 
proportion  of  his  gains  according  as  God  hath  prospered 
him  during  the  preceding  week."  Bloomfield,  Poor,  in 
Lange's  Commentary,  and  others,  give  it  precisely  thus, 
"  according  as,  or  in  respect  to  whatever  i"  the  pronoun  and 
adverb  having  a  general  and  potential  character ;  the  verb 
being  "literally,  '  to  be  set  forward  on  one  s  journey.''  " 

When  we  trace  out  the  form  and  uses  of  the  Greek  verb 
we  find  that  it  is  in  the  passive,  signifying  reception  of  the 
prosperity,  and  thus  "there  is  a  tacit  reference  to  the  Al- 
mighty." The  word  is  used  in  three  other  places  in  the 
New  Testament,  Rom.  i.  10,  and  twice  in  3  John,  2,  where 
there  is  an  allusion  to  verse  6.  The  one  word  in  Rom.  i.  10, 
is  translated  in  full  by  five  in  our  version:  '''might  have  a 
prosperons  journey.'''  This  is  the  figure,  then,  which  the 
Divine  Rule  implies.  We  are  like  ancient  Israel,  traveling 
to  a  land  of  promise.  Jehovah  marches  with  us  in  the  pillar 
of  cloud  and  of  fire.  He  guides  us,  and  defends  us,  and  sup- 
plies all  our  wants.  He  gives  us  bread  from  heaven  to  eat. 
"  As  it  is  written,"  says  Paul,  "he  that  had  gathered  much 
had  nothing  over,  and  he  that  had  gathered  little  had  no  lack. '  * 

'^  6  Ti  av  evoSwTat. 


THE    MEASURE  OF   CHRISTIAN   GIVING.      245 

Do  ' '  ye,  having  all  sufficiency  in  all  things,  abound  to  every 
good  work ;  as  it  is  written,  he  has  dispersed  abroad ;  he  hath 
given  to  the  poor;  his  righteousness  remaineth  for  ever."* 
In  the  Septuagint  Greek,  which  Christ  and  the  apostles 
read  and  quoted,  we  find  this  same  v;ord  used  in  another 
appropriate  sense.  It  is  said  that  David  had  prepared  gold, 
silver,  brass,  iron,  timber,  stone,  and  all  things  needed;  and 
had  "set  masons  to  hew  wrought  stones  for  the  house  of 
God,"  and  laborers  to  do  other  preparatory  work.  But  he 
had  "been  a  man  of  war  and  had  shed  blood,"  a  conqueror 
rather  than  a  builder.  So  he  gave  it  as  his  last  charge  to 
Solomon,  his  son,  "Now,  my  son,  prosper  thou,  and  build 
the  house  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  as  he  hath  said  of  thee." 
And  again,  "Then  shalt  thou  2^rosper,  if  thou  takest  heed 
to  fulfill  the  statutes  and  judgments  which  the  Lord  charged 
Moses  with  concerning  Lsrael."t  Tliere  are  several  Greek 
words  which  mean  to  "prosper,"  but  this  particular  one 
used  by  Paul  is  the  same  wdiich  is  used  in  the  Septuagint  in 
giving  David's  charge,  in  both  these  passages.  Such  an  illus- 
tration is  one  of  the  most  natural  arid  suitable  within  the 
range  of  the  apostle's  knowledge.  Christ  was  a  conqueror, 
though  only  by  the  shedding  of  his  own  precious  blood  ;  to 
those  who  became  heirs  of  the  blessings  gained  is  the  charge 
given  to  build.  "Let  every  man  'bring'  to  be  wrought 
into  a  fitting  place  in  that  temple,  whatsoever  he  hath  pros- 
pered in;"  gold,  silver,  precious  stones,  brass,  iron,  stones, 
''^anything  soever ^^  that  the  Lord  has  prospered  him  in. 
Every  man  has  something  that  will  be  of  use  in  a  great 

*2  Cor.  viii.  15;  ix.  S,  9. 

I  1  Chron.  xxii.  and  xxix. ;  xxviii.  3,  11,  13. 


246     god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

building ;  the  poor,  the  rich,  men  of  every  occapation  or 
capacity,  with  any  kind  of  prosperity,  can  find  things  which 
they  may  turn  into  gold  and  silver  to  give  for  it.  Males 
and  females,  old  and  young,  all  can  find  some  work  that  they 
can  make  profitable  thus.  There  is  no  mechanical  employ- 
ment, no  material  gift,  which  cannot  be  put  into  a  form  to 
occupy  some  place  in  the  construction  of  all  the  vast  and 
varied  parts  of  the  edifice,"  which  is  to  be  reared  through 
so  many  long  centuries,  and  whose  area  is  to  be  commensu- . 
rate  with  the  habitable  world.* 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  this  same  Greek  word  is 
again  used  in  the  Septuagint  with  regard  to  the  repair  of 
the  temple  by  Hezekiah.  He  was  the  honored  agent  of  a 
great  reformation,  or  revival  of  religion.  The  book  of 
Chronicles  relates  how  he  '"'' proi^iiered  in  all  his  works," 
save  in  the  matter  of  the  king  of  Babylon ;  how  he  revived 
the  ancient  law,  so  that  "the  tithe  of  all  things  they 
brought  in  abundantly ;"  how  "  the  people  and  the  strangers 
rejoiced,"  "so  that  there  was  great  joy  in  Jerusalem,  for 
since  the  time  of  Solomon  the  son  of  David  king  of  Israel 
there  was  not  the  like  in  eJerusalem." 

Paul  seems  likewise  to  resume  in  the  sixteenth  chapter 
the  same  illustration,  which  is  so  striking  to  an  Eastern  mind, 
from  a  previous  use  of  it  in  the  third  chapter  of  this  epistle. 
In  that  chapter  he  pictures  Christ  as  the  great  rock  on  which 
a  temple  is  founded  ;  himself  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  like 
a  master-builder;  they  the  workmen  under  his  direction. 
"But  let  every  man  take  heed  how  he  buildeth  thereupon." 
He  warns  them  to  avoid  collecting  there  combustible  mate- 

*  Coupare  Part  I.,  chap.  ii. 


THE   MEASURE   OF  CPIRISTIAN   GIVING.      247 

rials,  or  putting  up  round  about  or  within  the  enclosures 
of  the  edifice  the  huts  of  thatch  which  are  so  comruon  in 
those  warm  climates,  and  which  so  often  catch  fire  from 
the  fagots  with  which  the  workmen  cook  their  meals,  and 
burn  at  once  to  ashes.  There  is  a  day  coming,  he  says, 
when  "  the  fire  shall  try  every  man's  work  of  what  sort  it 
is."  If  it  be  incombustible,  "  gold,  silver,  precious  stones," 
he  shall  receive  a  reward  ;  if  it  be  combustible  and  perish- 
able, "wood,  hay,  stubble,"  he  shall  suffer  loss.  So  there 
are  men  who  shall  be  saved  upon  the  rock,  as  it  were  by 
fire.  They  are  rich  here,  but  their  property  is  not  builded 
into  the  temple.  Their  lives  have  been  so  barely,  hardly 
Christian,  all  they  have  done  and  earned  has  been  so  earthly, 
so  selfish,  that  they  shall  suffer  the  loss  of  the  whole.  They 
shall  stand  in  heaven  among  the  lowest  and  last,  inasmuch 
as  they  have  so  abused  the  trust  of  talents  and  means  which 
might  have  made  them  among  the  first. 

This  is  Christian  doctrine.  It  is  such  as  would  be  very 
effective  when  addressed  to  people  converted  from  heathen- 
ism, in  that  it  is  one  of  the  elementary  principles  of  natural 
religion  which  are  found  in  all  systems  of  it,  those  of  the 
present  as  well  as  those  of  the  past.  It  is  a  principle  which 
our  niuch  fuller  and  clearer  light  should  make  a  guiding 
and  influential  one  with  Christians  now. 

The  grammatical  form  of  the  verb  in  the  Rule  should  be 
observed.  The  gifts  are  to  be  from  what  one  '"'' hath  pros- 
pered in."  The  consecration  is, to  be  retrospective;  from 
what  things  are  already  in  our  possession.  It  is  not  to  be 
promissory.  This  provision  of  omniscient  wisdom  corrects 
one  of  the  mistakes  by  which  churches  sometimes  try  to 


248 

conquer  the  natural  avarice  of  the  human  heart,  and  by 
which  men  defer  their  oWigations  to  God,  and  chng  a  Ht- 
tle  longer  to  their  money.  It  is  to  be  ready  for  the  calls 
of  God's  providence  and  the  necessities  of  the  church  ; 
"  that  there  he  no  gatherings  when  "  they  "  come.'^ 

This  important  idea  is  constantly  traced  in  the  appoint- 
ments of  the  old  dispensation.  The  gifts  of  God  in  each 
season  and  of  every  kind  were  to  be  gratefully  acknowledged 
by  rendering  the  first-fruits,  or  oblations,  when  ripe ;  and 
the  sacrifices  of  animals  when  they  attained  a  certain  age ; 
or  else  by  the  payment  of  the  redemption  money  then  due  for 
each.  But  God  does  not  make  demands  of  us  upon  the 
credit  system.  Paul  says  our  liberality  "is  accepted  accord- 
ing to  that  a  man  hath,  and  not  according  to  that  he  hath 
not. "  It  is  a  mere  sop  to  covetousness  for  us  to  promise 
what  we  have  that  is  already  due,  and  thus  withhold  it  for 
a  time.  It  is  presumption  to  promise  for  the  future,  when 
we  know  not  what  a  day  may  bring  forth.  It  is  a  crime 
against  humanity  to  refuse  what  bread  would  feed  some  fam- 
ishing souls  to-day,  because  we  hope  to  spare  more  easily  next 
week,  or  next  month,  or  to  leave  more  after  we  are  dead. 
The  root  of  promissory  notes  and  subscriptions  is  too  often, 
alas !  ostentation  ;  love  of  the  praise  of  men  rather  than  that 
which  cometh  from  God.  The  general  principles  of  this 
New  Testament  ordinance  are  opposed  to  them.  It  is  a 
great  mistake,  practically,  for  pastors  to  solicit  from  a  people 
promises  to  pay  so  much^  week,  or  quarter,  or  year,  to  a 
round  of  benevolent  or  ecclesiastical  objects ;  and  to  appoint 
collectors  to  gather  up  the  money.  The  plan  is  burthen- 
some  to  some,  hurtful  to  all ;  it  lasts  but  for  a  time  and  is 


THE   MEASUKE   OF   CHRISTIAN   GIVING.      249 

thrown  away ;  it  is  a  shift  to  avoid  the  neglect  of  the  cuUi- 
vation  of  the  conscience  of  the  people  and  the  imparting 
of  information  and  instruction  which  would  make  them  give 
from  principle.  Nothing  is  gained  by  rejecting  God's  plan, 
which  is  the  only  wise  one,  that  which  in  due  time  will  pro- 
duce by  far  the  most  abundant  results,  and  that  which  he  will 
accompany  with  blessings  infinitely  more  valuable  than  silver 
and  gold.     "Grive  that  ye  have,"  "  as  God  hath  prospered." 

The  Dr'ine  Seal  upon  Property. 

"Ye  are  bought  with  a  price,"  and  so  are  "the  Lord's 
freemen;"  released  from  bondage  to  sin  and  hell,  and  so 
"  thou  owest  unto  me  even  thine  own  self."*  All  that  men 
are  and  have  they  owe  to  be  used  as  Christ's  service  de- 
mands. He  may  require  "all"  as  from  the  apostles,  when 
he  needs  the  whole  of  one's  hfe  and  time;  or  "all"  in 
order  to  release  one  from  the  control  of  the  world,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  young  man  who  asked  the  way  to  inherit 
eternal  life.  A  Zaccheus  may  give  half  his  estate  to  some 
objects,  and  four-fold  their  claims  to  others,  Christ  cer- 
tainly expects  returns  proportionable  to  men's  means,  five 
talents  from  those  that  have  received  five,  ten  talents  from 
those  that  have  received  ten. 

But  there  is  needed  somfe  distinct  seal  of  God's  right  in 
all  our  possessions :  and  there  are  required  for  the  comfort 
and  welfare  of  society  some  general  and  permanent  regula- 
tions as  to  time  and  property.  Such  regulations  are  indis- 
pensable in  the  State  and  in  secular  concerns.  They  exist  in 
everj^  other  system  of  religion  on  the  face  of  the  earth ; 
*•  1  Cor.  vii.  22,  23.     Phil.  19. 


in  all  forms  of  heathenism  and  Mohammedanism ;  in  all 
the  ancient  Christian  churches,  and  in  many  of  the  modern. 
All  Christians  without  exception  comply  with  the  appoint- 
ment of  one-seventh  of  time  for  general  sacred  uses.  There 
are  some,  however,  who  do  not  comply  with  that  of  one- 
tenth  as  to  property.  On  what  authority  of  God  is  it  based, 
and  w^hat  is  its  nature  under  this  dispensation? 

Instructions  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

What  does  the  King  and  Head  of  the  Church  say  in  re- 
gard to  the  form  and  measure  of  our  common  oiferings? 

In  previous  chapters*  we  have  observed  the  general  spirit 
of  his  precepts.  They  all  tend  to  wise  system,  directed  by 
holy  and  loving  principle.  Each  servant  in  his  place  is  to 
be  a  "faithful  and  wise  steward,  whom  his  lord  shall  make 
ruler  over  his  household,  to  give  them  their  portion  of  meat 
in  due  season. ' '  He  reproves  want  of  pecuniary  forethought 
and  plans  by  the  example  of  the  unjust  steward,  which 
shows  how  much  wiser  the  children  of  this  world  are  than 
the  children  of  light. f 

On  two  occasions  the  Lord  Jesus  expressly  considered  the 
measure  in  which  money  is  to  be  contributed  for  religious 
purposes.  On  one  of  these  occasions  Christ  makes  a  com- 
parison between  various  formal  observances.  A  Pharisee, 
with  whom  he  was  to  dine,  is  surprised  by  his  neglect  of 
ceremonial  washings.  He  replies:  "Eather  give  alms  of 
such  things  as  ye  have,  and  behold  all  things  are  clean  unto 
you."  Our  marginal  translation  reads,  for  "as  ye  have," 
"or,  as  ye  are  able.'"    Such  is  the  meaning  of  the  original 

*  Part  I.,  chap.  iv..  and  Part  II.,  cliapp.  i.  to  iv.    f  Luke  xii.  42 ;  xvi.  8. 


THE   MEASURE   OF   CHRISTIAN   GIVING.      251 

expression.*  This  contains  the  same  idea  with  the  Divine 
Rule  given  through  Paul;  "according  as  God  hath  pros- 
pered." Christ  says,  almsgiving  makes  "  all  things  clean  " 
to  men ;  he  makes  conformity  to  the  law  as  to  giving  money 
to  be  one  chief  outward  evidence  of  real  repentance  and 
true  piety,  while  he  sets  the  ceremonial  forms  at  naught,  as 
no  longer  of  any  value;  therefore,  he  says,  ''•give  as  ye  are 
able:' 

On  the  other  of  the  occasions  referred  to,  Christ  definitely 
says  ''tithes''  "ought  to''  be  paid;  but  that  these  offer- 
ings must  be  inspired  by  holy  and  spiritual  motives.  "  Ye 
pay  tithe  of  mint  and  anise  and  cummin,  and  have  Omitted 
the  weightier  matters  of  the  law,  judgment,  mercy,  and 
faith.  These  ought  ye  to  have  done,  and  not  to  leave  the 
other  undone."!  Jacobus  well  explains  this :  "They  paid 
tithes,  even  to  the  merest  hei'bs,  and  were  exact  even  to  the 
smallest  items. "  "  It  was  not  condemned.  They  did  right 
to  pay  tithes  to  the  utmost.  But,  with  all  their  attention 
to  the  smallest  matters,  they  neglected  things  of  more  im- 
portance, their  social  and  religious  duties;"  and  also  the 
spirit  from  wliich  all  such  offerings  must  be  made.  Their 
giving  must  be  from  holy  principle,  both  as  to  the  measure 
and  as  to  the  motives. 

It  was  on  the  Wednesday  previous  to  his  crucifixion  when 
he  spake  these  words.  Within  sixty  hours  he  was  to  die. 
The  cross,  the  bloody  atonement,  the  agony  of  the  garden, 
the  sepulchre,  the  resurrection,  all  were  just  before  him, 
and  in  full  view  to  his  omniscient  eye.     What  did  he  mean 

*  Luke  xi.  43.  ra  ivovra,  from  Irei/xt,  to  be  in,  or  among,  to  be 
po.s.>ible,  to  have  in  one's  jower,  |  Matt,  x.xiii.  23. 


252     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

by  this  solemn  admonition  to  the  crowds  about  him  in  the 
temple  ?  It  was  as  if  the  Son  of  God  said  to  them,  and  to 
those  who  should  hear  them  in  every  language  in  which  to 
the  end  of  the  world  his  gospel  should  be  preached :  "  If 
the  Jew,  amidst  the  dark  shadows  of  the  twilight,  is  taught 
of  God  to  be  so  devoted,  so  liberal,  and  to  make  the  gathering 
of  means  to  serve  and  honor  him  one  regular  and  chief  ob- 
ject in  every  employment  of  his  hand,  how  much  should 
you  henceforth  exceed  him.  How  much  should  you  exceed 
his  measure  in  the  devotion  of  your  money  and  means ;  and 
how  much  should  you  exceed  him  in  the  spirit  of  willing 
obedience,  enlightened  thought,  mercy  for  the  perishing 
of  mankind  and  faith  in  the  covenants  of  promise,  with 
which  those  shall  be  poured  forth." 

The  Original  Appointment  op  Offerings  of  a  Tenth 
TO  God. 
When  we  search  for  the  origin  of  the  appointment  of  a 
tenth  for  offerings  to  God,  we  soon  discover  the  mistake  of 
those  who  reject  it  as  if  one  of  those  belonging  to  the  ceremo- 
nial law,  which  was  abrogated  at  the  coming  of  Christ.  We 
find  that  it  existed  before  the  giving  of  the  law.  We  discover 
it  five  hundred  years  earlier  in  the  daj's  of  Abraham,  "the 
father  of  all  them  that  believe,  though  they  be  not  circum- 
cised," who  paid  tithes  to  Melchizedec ;  and  in  the  prac- 
tice of  "  Israel,"  the  type  of  all  those  that  prevail  in  prayer, 
who  promised  them  at  Bethel.  We  go  back  further  still  to 
the  earliest  events  in  the  history  of  the  human  family,  be- 
fore the  deluge,  and  find  the  decimal  system  employed  then 
in  the  appointments  of  God  in  regard  to  material  things 


THE   MEASURE   OF   CHRISTIAN   GIVING.      253 

and  ordinary  time,  parallel  to  that  of  sevens  in  regard  to 
those  of  sacred  time. 

The  system  of  ordinaiy  enumeration  by  decimals  is  pro- 
hahly  based  on  essential  principles  fixed  by  the  Creator. 
Arithmeticians  have  asserted  that  a  ratio  of  16,  of  12,  of  8, 
of  4,  or  even  of  2— which  was  proposed  by  Leibnitz — would 
in  diiferent  respects  be  better  than  that  of  10.  It  has  been 
earnestly  urged  that  8  is  the  best  possible  ratio,  and  its  great 
superiority  shown  as  a  number  susceptible  of  indefinite 
bi-section,  and  itself  a  cube  (2^)  and  whose  square  (64)  is  a 
cube  (4^),  and  as  the  best  natural  division  in  dry  or  hquid 
measures.  It  has  been  confidently  prophesied  that,  however 
prodigious  the  labor  and  expense  involved  in  the  universal 
substitution  of  this  ratio  of  8  for  10,  it  will  be  undertaken 
by  some  future  age  at  a  far  greater  sacrifice.  It  has  been 
asserted  that  we  use  decimals  because  man  has  10  fingers 
and  10  toes.  But  Sabbath  is  not  kept  on  each  seventh  day 
because  the  knuckles  of  a  man's  hand  have  seven  elevations 
and  depressions  which  many  persons  find  a  convenience  for 
remembering  the  days  of  the  week,  or  the  long  and  short 
months  of  the  j^ear.  Nor,  if  we  choose  to  use  4  or  8  as  a 
ratio,  would  it  be  because  of  the  number  of  our  fingers  with- 
out the  thumbs.  God  has  given  to  numbers  the  principles 
which  govern  them.  No  nation,  ancient  or  modern,  except 
a  few  that  have  fallen  into  the  most  degraded  ignorance,  has 
used  a  ratio  of  any  other  number  than  10  in  its  arithmetic. 
And  each  generation  successively  from  the  very  beginning 
has  found  it  impossible  to  change  what  was  handed  down  to 
it,  and  was  inseparably  interwoven  with  all  its  history,  relig- 
ion, dates,  measures  and  business.     Thus  we  are  of  necessity 


254     god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  ratio  of  ten  was  given  to  the 
very  first  members  of  the  human  family  ;  that  this  method 
of  computation  was  part  of  the  inspiration  of  language  from 
the  Creator  to  Adam  when  he  arrayed  the  animals  before 
him  and  taught  him  to  name  them,  and  that  the  design  ap- 
parently was  in  some  way,  like  that  of  the  seal  of  seven 
on  time,  to  appoint  it  for  religious  ends  in  connection  with 
property. 

Evidences  erom  Literature  and  Usages  of  all 
Nations. 

We  may  obtain  many  evidences  from  historical  and  other 
sources  that  offerings  of  at  least  a  tenth  to  God  was  a  pri- 
meval appointment,  not  for  the  Jews,  but  for  all  nations. 
This  is  as  clear  as,  and  the  proofs  are  of  the  same  character 
with,  those  which  show  that  sacrifices  were  an  original  and 
universal  type  of  Christ,  or  that  the  Sabbath  was  observed 
from  the  beginning  and  was  designed  for  all  whom  Grod  had 
created. 

If  we  consider  the  principle  at  the  foundation  of  each 
of  the  institutions  referred  to,  it  will  appear  evident  that 
the  same  reason  which  would  lead  Grod  to  appoint  a  fixed 
and  universal  portion  of  time  for  his  worship,  instead  of 
leaving  mankind  to  observe  any  which  might  please  them, 
would  also  require  him  to  appoint  a  fixed  and  universal  con- 
tribution of  the  means  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  a 
priesthood  and  the  edifices  and  forms  of  worship.  The 
means  are  manifestly  just  as  necessary  as  the  time.  The 
religious  offices  of  the  priesthood  must  be  regularly  main- 
tained.    And  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  costs  of 


THE   MEASURE   OF   CHRISTIAN   GIVING.       255 

buildings,  of  education,  teachers,  books,  and  manuscripts, 
and  often  those  of  medical  attention  to  the  sick,  of  hospi- 
tality to  travelers,  and  even  of  the  settlement  of  personal  dif- 
ficulties, always  have  been  and  are  now  in  the  East  mainly 
supplied  from  this  fund  under  the  care  of  the  priesthood. 

It  is  to  be  expected  that  if  appointed  in  connection  with 
the  first  institutions  of  religion,  the  decimal  system  must  be 
universally  prevalent  in  the  world,  and  be  traceable  from 
the  earliest  history  of  its  different  nations.  And  such  is 
the  case.  A  multitude  of  instances  may  be  gathered  of 
religious  oflerings  of  one-tenth  among  all  the  ancient  na- 
tions of  the  world.  As  the  priesthood  were  so  largely  the 
civil  rulers,  we  see  the  taxes  of  various  nations  assuming 
this  form,  as  in  Egypt.  In  time  of  threatened  famine 
Joseph  doubled  this  rate.'^  This  religious  usage  is  trace- 
able in  the  remotest  nations,  and  exists  among  many  of 
them  at  this  day.  But  our  space  does  not  permit  illustra- 
tions to  be  given.  Another  form  of  proof  of  the  universal 
use  of  decimals,  and  their  religious  character,  might  be  pre- 
sented by  selecting  the  words  by  which  the  first  ten  num- 
bers are  known  in  the  languages  of  the  principal  nations  in 
each  continent,  and  in  the  island  groups  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  These  words  have  often  appropriate  significations. 
Such  a  selection  would  exhibit  also  the  geographical  preva- 
lence of  the  decimal  system.  But  our  space  does  not  per- 
mit the  introduction  of  these  tables ;  and  besides  we  wish 
carefully  to  avoid  all  such  supports  for  the  duty  in  discus- 
sion as  might  tend  to  introduce  here  the  dangerous  religious 
formality  of  the  Old  World.  AYe  may,  however,  present  a 
•••"  Gen.  xli.  34. 


256 


GOD  S    RULE   FOR  CHRISTIAN"  GIVING. 


TABLE   OF    DECIMAL   CHARACTERS. 


< 

< 

ii 

< 

^5 

an  « 

Q 

t3 

c 

i 

s 

5 

1 

1 

\ 

- 

? 

/ 

/ 

1 

( 

) 

( 

J 

1 

2 

11 

■^ 

^ 

Z 

// 

u 

*-7 

t^ 

r 

') 

II 

3 

Hi 

3, 

^ 

^ 

/// 

m 

^ 

r 

r 

"1 

III 

4 

D 

0 

0 

^ 

//// 

vvv 
V 

B 

V 

F 

K 

IV 

5 

5 

2 

V 

s^ 

r/ 

vvv 
vv 

% 

b 

6 

;Sr 

V 

6 

D 

S, 

55 

ii'j 

vvv 
vvv 

4 

•/ 

1 

> 

VI 

7 

/ 

^ 

A 

54 

M 

vvv 

V 

^ 

V 

V 

J^ 

VII 

8 

/ 

/\ 

'6 

^4 

m 

WW 
WW 

s; 

\ 

A 

i  \ 

VIII 

9 

^ 

A 

9 

1 

rii 

vw 

vvv 

vvv 

< 

? 

1 

% 

IX 

10 
11 

0 

+ 

6 

y 

0 

< 

io 

1- 

/• 

+ 

X 

!t 

y 

1- 

a 

If 

II 

tf 

XI 

12 

=+ 

y 

II- 

l^ 

if 

ir 

ll+ 

XII 

20 

+= 

/? 

N 

« 

^0 

^ 

r- 

+= 

XX 

21 

_^c 

yf 

-N 

Kl 

r( 

ri 

(+= 

XXI 

100 

i5 

s> 

N 

H> 

.^oc 

(-- 

1" 

IS 

c 

*  It  is  not  necessary  to  note  some  interesting  questions  presented 
in   connection  with  the  forms  in  the  following  table.      There  are 


THE   MEASUEE  OF   CHRISTIAN   GIVING.      257 

table  of  written  characters,  which  have  this  advantage, that 
some  of  them  are  taken  from  architectural  remains  in  Baby- 
lon, Egypt,  and  India,  which  have  existed  for  thousands 
of  years.  The  forms  here  given  have  been  collected  from 
the  best  original  sources. 

A  FUNDA5IENTAL  MaXIM  AS  TO  LeVITICAL  TyPES. 

Before  we  consider  the  teachings  of  the  Levitical  dispen- 
sation, in  regard  to  the  consecration  of  property,  let  us  lay 
down  a  fundamental  maxim  which  will  help  to  make  them 
more  plain  to  the  understanding.  It  is  this,  that  in  the 
whole  system  of  types  and  precepts  we  may  expect  to  find 
a  parallel  maintained  between  what  relates  to  the  offices  of 
Christ  and  what  relates  to  those  of  his  Church  and  his  peo- 
ple. If  the  sacrificial  lamb  represented  Christ,  the  believer 
must  lay  his  hands  upon  its  head  when  it  is  to  be  slain.  The 
mercy-seat  where  he  answered  requests  was  erected  over  the 
ark,  but  within  the  ark  were  laid  up  the  stone  tables  of  the 
law,  which  taught  duty.  Israel  was  "a  chosen  nation," 
but  only  while  it  continued  to  be  "an  holy  nation."  So  in 
the  symbols  of  Christ.  Believers  are  elect,  but  it  is  unto 
obedience.     If  he  is  the  vine,  they  must  be  living  branches 

Chaldean  legends  which  say  that  the  original  archetypal  numbers, 
whatever  they  were,  were  preserved  upon  bricks  and  stone  when  the 
deluge  destroyed  all  the  human  race  except  the  family  of  Noah — 
who  is  named  in  them  Xisithrus.  See  remains  of  Berossus  in  Cory, 
Ancient  Fragments.  The  only  point  of  present  interest  is  the  evi- 
dent unity  of  the  source  of  the  decimal  system,  far  separated  and 
widely  different  as  were  some  of  the  nations  whence  these  illustra- 
tions were  drawn. 
17 


258      god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

and  bear  much  fruit,  else  they  will  be  cast  forth  and  burned. 
If  he  is  the  head,  they  must  be  members  each  having  his 
own  office.  The  cross  of  Christ  is  made  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation,  and  the  same  power  works  in  them  mightil3\ 
His  suffering  becomes  the  grand  motive  for  their  holiness 
and  zeal.  If  he  died  for  them  and  rose  again,  they  must 
live  as  those  that  are  alive  from  the  dead,  and  conse- 
crate their  all  to  glorifying  his  name  and  to  spreading  with 
the  spirit  of  heavenly  messengers  the  glad  tidings  of  his 
grace  to  men.  Hence  we  conclude  that  if  we  find  much 
minutely  prefigured  in  the  law  of  Moses  in  regard  to  the 
particulars  of  Christ's  ministry,  crucifixion,  and  the  gifts 
of  his  Spirit,  we  may  as  plainly  expect  to  see  much  in  it  as 
to  the  particulars  of  the  believer's  duty  to  the  Church,  and 
to  a  world  which  is  all  to  be  made  subject  to  Christ.  This 
obvious  principle  lies  at  the  root  of  the  question  of  the  de- 
sign of  the  Levitical  appointments  as  to  tithes.  It  was  to 
be  supposed  that  as  the  rudiments  of  the  principle  of  pro- 
portionate giving  are  seen  in  the  patriarchal  period,  now 
in  that  of  the  law  they  will  be  expanded  and  made  clear, 
minute,  and  practical,  to  the  end  that  the  servants  of  God 
may  clearly  comprehend  the  nature  and  measure  of  their 
obligations  to  him.  If  this  be  plain  let  us  proceed  to  ex- 
amine the  character  and  object  of  the  tithes  of  the  old  dis- 
pensation.* 

TlTIIE-PAYING  IN  ISRAEL. 

And,  first,  a  tenth  of  the  produce  of  his  employment  was 
required  of  every  man,  even  including  the  Levites  themselves. 
"Behold  I  have  given  the  children  of  Levi  all  the  tenth  in 

*  See  Part  L,  chaps,  iii.  and  iv.,  and  Part  II.,  chaps,  i.  and  ii. 


THE   MEASURE   OF   CHRISTIAN    GIVING.       259 

Israel  for  an  inheritance,  for  their  service  which  they  serve, 
even  the  service  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation." 
This  revenue  was  devoted  to  the  support  of  the  tribe  of 
Levi,  as  an  equivalent  for  their  relinquishment  of  their 
share  in  the  territory  and  general  possessions  of  the  nation, 
as  a  salary  in  virtue  of  their  office,  for  religious  uses,  and 
for  offices  of  charity  toward  widows,  orphans,  strangers,  and 
the  poor.  This  tithe  extended  to  the  most  minute  sources 
of  revenue,  even  to  the  "mint,  anise,  and  cummin"  of 
their  vegetable  gardens,  and  oil,  wood,  honey,  vessels  and 
other  articles  of  manufacture  or  merchandise  were  included 
in  it."^  For  the  reception  of  these  vast  accumulations  a 
portion  of  the  temple  grounds  was  devoted  to  storehouses 
and  treasuries;  and  the  same  provisions  were  made  in  "all 
the  cities,"  only  the  "tithe  of  the  tithes  "  being  brought  up 
to  Jerusalem  for  the  use  of  the  priests  engaged  in  service 
at  the  temple.  This  principal  tiche  might  be  commuted  by 
paying  the  value  of  an  article  with  one-fifth  additional.  To 
receive,  register,  and  distribute  this  propert}^,  and  the  money 
paid  on  various  accounts  into  the  treasury,  a  special  body 
of  Levitical  officers  was  appointed.  And  upon  it  the  priest- 
hood, Levites,  and  their  famihes,  were  primarily  dependent 
for  their  living,  in  connection  with  the  firstlings  of  the  ani- 
mals and  also  certain  parts  of  the  sacrifices. 

A  second  tenth  was  annually  required  of  the  people  for 
a  difierent  purpose.  It  was  to  be  applied  to  charitable  pur- 
poses, festivals,  and  family  rejoicings,  and  matters  connected 

*  Lev.  xxvii.  30-33.  Num.  xviii.  20-24.  2  Chron.  xxxi.  5-19. 
Neh.  xiii.  5-13,  31;  xii.  44;  x.  38.  Matt,  xxiii.  Luke  xi.  Rom. 
vii.  4. 


260      god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

with  the  three  great  annual  feasts  at  Jerusalem ;  so  that  it 
was  easy  to  be  borne.  Thus  it  appears  that  the  first  tithe 
only  was  of  the  nature  of  a  tax.* 

Every  third  year  each  man  was  required  solemnly  to  de- 
clare before  the  Lord  that  he  had  been  honest  in  the  dedi- 
cation of  these  two  kinds  of  tithes  to  the  uses  appointed  in 
the  law.f 

Spirit  or  the  Jewish  Contributions. 

A  thorough  study  of  the  financial  appointments  of  the 
laws  of  Moses  removes  various  misapprehensions  of  their 
nature  which  are  prevalent  among  Christians.  Some  of  the 
other  laws  were  designed  to  prevent  intercourse  with  Gen- 
tile nations,  or  for  special  ends,  and  were  burdensome  ;  and 
the  Pharisees  made  others  still  to  be  a  yoke  which  was  hard 
to  bear  by  their  minute  and  severe  interpretations  of  them. 
But  we  ascertain  from  these  laws  and  from  the  history  of 
the  Jews,  as  compared  with  other  nations,  that  these  finan- 
cial regulations  were  easy  and  beneficent. 

The  payments  were  entirely  voluntary.  They  are  sup- 
posed by  most  persons  now  to  have  been  compulsory.  This 
was  not  the  case.  Wines  says,1:  "The  rendition  of  the 
tithes  was  left  entirely  to  the  conscience  and  the  loyalty  of 
each  individual  Israelite.  No  compulsory  process  could  be 
instituted  to  compel  a  payment  of  them,  neither  did  the 
priests  or  the  magistrates  have  any  superintendence  or  over- 
sight of  the  matter.  It  will  readily  be  imagined  that  the 
law  must  have  been  often  but  partially  complied  with,  and 

*  Deut.  xii.  17-19 ;  xiv.  22-29.  f  I>eut.  xxvi.  12-15. 

J  Commentaries  on  Latos  of  Ajicient  Hebrews,  b.  II.,  c.  viii. 


THE    MEASURE   OF   CHRISTIAN   GIVING.        261 

sometimes  wholly  eluded.  That  this  was  actually  the 
case,  appears  from  commands  issued  by  the  kings,  such  as 
that  of  Hezekiah,  and  from  the  censures  addressed  by  the 
prophets  to  the  Hebrew  people."*  This  appears  also  from 
the  spiritual  blessings  and  curses  pronounced  in  the  law 
itself. 

The  summary  of  the  law  which  has  just  been  given  shows 
that  its  appointments  were  most  charitable  in  their  nature. 
Its  influence  is  seen  among  the  Jewish  people  until  the  pre- 
sent day.  Those  persons  who  visit  -our  pubHc  almshouses, 
hospitals,  and  charitable  institutions,  can  bear  testimony  that 
they  find  in  them  no  Jews,  unless  it  may  be  some  in  places 
where  there  are  none  of  their  own  people  to  help  them. 

The  joyful  character  of  the  festivals,  family  gatherings, 
and  public  worship,  which  were  supported  by  the  pecuniary 
contributions,  made  that  ancient  religion,  when  observed  in 
the  spirit  of  its  appointments  by  Grod,  inspiring  and  happy 
beyond  any  that  has  ever  existed,  in  any  other  land,  or  in 
any  late  age.  This  is  seen  in  the  historical  accounts  of  the 
enrapturing  influence  of  the  temple  services,!  but  especially 
in  the  psalms  appointed  for  public  worship,  which  are  chiefly 
in  the  latter  half  of  the  book. 

This  financial  system  reached  every  family  and  every  in- 
dividual. It  combined  the  interest  and  co-operation  of  the 
whole  people. 

It  adapted  the  measure  of  contribution  to  the  means  of 
each  one.  It  sought  something  from  each  one ;  but  made 
the  amount  to  be  given  proportionable  to  wealth  or  income, 

*  2  Chron.  xxxi.  4.     Jer.  viii.  10.     Mai.  iii.  8. 

f  See  Neh.  viii.     1  Kiugs  viii.  GG.     2  Chron.  xxx.  21-27. 


262     god's  eule  for  christian  giving. 

illustrating  the  New  Testament  rule,  "according  as  God 
hath  prospered." 

We  have  but  to  compare  this  with  any  contemporaneous 
or  later  system  of  taxation :  we  have  but  to  contrast  the 
happy  condition  of  the  Hebrew  common  people  with  that 
of  the  wretched,  vicious,  savage  condition  of  the  poor  in 
Rome,  or  in  any  ancient  nation,  and  we  must  be  satisfied 
that  this  is  God's  plan,  a  plan  originating  in  infinite  wisdom 
and  infinite  goodness.'^' 

Interpretation  by  Heathen  Converts. 
Can  the  reader  whose  eye  falls  on  this  passage  so  trans- 
port himself  to  the  circumstances  in  which  the  first  converts 
from  heathenism  were  placed  as  to  conceive  of  the  interpre- 
tation which  they  would  give  to  the  Divine  Rule  and  to  the 
Old  Testament  light  upon  the  measure  of  their  gifts?  How 
did  the  Roman,  the  Corinthian,  the  Macedonian  converts 
understand  the  words  "  according  as  God  hath  prospered  "  ? 
They  had  been  brought  up,  as  the  heathen  in  India  and 
China  are  now,  to  make  daily  and  liberal  offerings,  obla- 
tions, donations,  to  scores  of  deities,  in  order  to  propitiate 
their  care  over  the  various  apartments  of  the  house ;  over 
the  employments  of  each  member  of  the  family ;  over  mat- 
ters of  private  or  public  concern,  the  street,  the  city,  the 
various  elements;  over  birth,  marriage,  death,  and  the 
judgment  after  death.  Thus  their  religion  was  to  them  a 
source  of  varied,  perpetual,  and  large  outlays.  Their  wor- 
ship as  Christians  was  often  interrupted  by  the  drums  and 
flutes  and  noise  of  idol   processions.     Their  streets  were 

*  See  on  this  siiliji  ct  also  Part  I.,  chap,  iv.,  and  Part  II.,  chap.  i. 


THE   MEASUEE   OF   CHRISTIAN   GIVING.      263 

thronged  with  frenzied  devotees.  Their  eyes  were  pained 
with  the  costly  expenditures  of  idol  worshipers  and  temple 
services.  Their  lives  were  daily  threatened.  Their  hearts 
were  sickened  by  the  atmosphere  of  horrible  iniquity. 
Their  homes  were  often  agonized  and  made  miserable  by 
the  domestic  trials  resulting  from  their  rejection  of  beliefs 
to  which  many  loved  ones  fondly  clung.  They  saw  the  world 
lying  before  them  all  in  sin  and  under  the  power  of  hell. 
Ah  !  how  could  they  do  else  than  spend  daily  of  their  means 
in  acts  of  Christian  pity  and  mercy,  and  put  into  the  trea- 
sury of  the  church,  which  was  to  furnish  and  send  forth  labor- 
ers to  resist  and  overcome  the  abounding  iniquity,  "what- 
soever" their  blessed  Lord  had  "prospered  them  in,"  and 
enabled  them  without  real  suffering  to  give  ?  A  tenth  would 
seem  to  their  burning  hearts  a  small  proportion  indeed. 

Such  was  the  spirit  of  the  first  believers  in  Christ.  It 
was  the  glorious,  and  what  appears  to  the  nominal  Chris- 
tians of  most  subsequent  generations  the  surprising,  charac- 
teristic of  those  on  whom  the  Holy  Spirit  fell  with  the 
power  of  its  first  descent.  An  exposition  of  the  highest 
meaning  of  the  Rule  for  Christian  Giving  is  seen  in  the 
recorded  practice  of  the  converts  after  Pentecost.  To  such 
an  extent  did  their  joy  in  Christ,  their  confidence  in  his 
unlimited  providence,  their  deep  love  to  each  other,  and 
their  ardent  zeal  for  the  spread  of  the  glad  tidings  of  salva- 
tion carry  them,  that  they  held  themselves  to  be  like  bro- 
thers in  the  possession  of  a  joint  inheritance  and  engaged 
in  a  like  work.  "And  all  that  believed  were  together,  and 
had  all  things  common,  and  sold  their  possessions  and  goods 
and  parted  tliem  to  all  men,  as  every  man  had  need." 


264 


Such,  truly,  also  will  be  the  spirit  of  the  Church  when  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  again  fill  the  souls  of  men. 

Spirit  and  Methods  of  the  Primitive  Church. 

When  the  first  overwhelming  torrents  of  the  Pentecostal 
influences  had  settled  somewhat  into  regular  channels,  we 
discover  a  tendency  to  conform  contributions  of  money  to 
methodical  arrangements,  and  thus  to  equalize,  facilitate, 
and  maintain  them.  The  payment  of  voluntary  tithes  to  the 
church  became  the  general  custom  within  one  or  two  cen- 
turies after  the  apostles.  It  was  four  centuries  later  before 
it  was  made  compulsory  by  the  synods.  To  save  extended 
quotations  let  us  group  together  some  brief  passages  from 
the  Homilies  of  Chrysostom. 

The  preacher  strikingly  presents  the  lofty  spirit  of  Chris- 
tian liberality  which  is  suggested  by  those  words  of  Paul 
that  immediately  precede  the  Divine  Rule,  "forasmuch  as 
ye  know  that  your  labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord. ' '  He  ex- 
claims, "  What  sayest  thou  ?  'Labor' again?  Yes!  But 
labor  followed  by  crowns,  and  those  crowns  above  the  heav- 
ens. The  primeval  labor,  appointed  on  man's  expulsion 
from,  paradise,  was  the  punishment  of  his  transgressions; 
but  this  is  the  ground  of  the  rewards  which  are  to  come. 
So  that  it  cannot  really  be  styled  '  labor,'  if  considered  both 
on  this  account  and  on  account  of  the  great  help  which  it 
receives  from  above ;  this  is  the  cause  of  Paul's  adding  the 
words  '  in  the  Lord. '  For  the  purpose  of  the  former  labor 
was  that  we  might  sufier  punishment ;  but  of  this  that  we 
might  obtain  the  good  things  to  come." 

He  guardedly  and  wisely  suggests  the  measure  of  liberal- 


THE   MEASURE  OF   CHRISTIAN   GIVING.      265 

ity :  "  What  is  much  and  what  is  httle  God  defines,  not  by 
the  sum  of  that  which  is  given,  but  by  the  capability  of  the 
substance  of  him  that  giveth."  "Let  the  laboring  man, 
as  for  instance  the  sandal-  (or  shoe-)  maker,  or  the  leather- 
dealer,  or  the  brass-founder,  or  any  other  mechanic,  when 
he  sells  any  article  of  his  trade,  give  the  first  fruits  of  its 
price  unto  God.  Let  him  cast  in  a  small  portion  here,  and 
assign  something  to  God  out  of  his  profits,  even  though 
they  appear  somewhat  small. "  "  I  speak  not  to  lay  down  a 
law,  nor  to  forbid  the  bestowment  of  more,  but  to  recom- 
mend the  contribution  of  not  less  than  a  tenth  part." 

Qualifications  of  Proportionate  Giving. 

It  will  probably  make  the  duty  of  the  proportionate  giv- 
ing which  is  taught  in  the  Divine  Rule  plain  to  every  one 
and  show  liow  reasonable  it  is,  how  adapted  to  Christians 
of  all  classes  and  in  all  circumstances,  and  how  efficient  for 
its  ends,  if  we  recall  some  of  the  lessons  of  previous  chap- 
ters and  add  the  following  explanation  of  the  conditions 
which  qualify  it : 

It  is  based  on  love  to  God  and  entire  consecration  to  him 
in  all  things ;  and  is  associated  with  his  worship. 

It  supposes  that  every  one  makes  it  his  husiness  to  serve 
God  in  his  worldly  employments,  whatever  they  may  be, 
and  to  devote  a  share  of  their  income  or  profits  to  the  ob- 
jects of  his  gospel. 

A  general  proportion  of  this  income  is  fixed  upon,  below 
which  the  giver  will  not  go,  except  in  extraordinary  circum- 
stances. He  will  continually  try  to  advance  it  and  will  in- 
crease his  rate  "  according  as  God  prospers  him." 


266      god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

This  measure  is  but  a  "standard"  of  aim  and  effort  for 
the  personal  convenience  of  the  giver,  and  its  arrangements 
and  acts  are  voluntary  with  him. 

The  ordinary  rate  should,  if  possible,  be  not  below  one- 
tenth. 

The  standard  should  vary  with  the  changing  circumstances 
of  men  or  women. 

The  Rule,  with  -the  subsequent  remark  and  the  interpre- 
tations in  the  next  epistle,  shows,  that  the  private  deposits 
and  accounts  of  individuals  and  families  should  be  weekly, 
or  when  the  money  is  received;  but  that  gifts  and  appropri- 
ations of  it  to  various  objects  should  be  when  suitable  op- 
portunities ^' come.'" 

The  general  rate  should  not  interfere  with  special  and 
extraordinary  gifts. 

Neither  the  rule  as  to  the  rate,  nor  the  collection  of  the 
proceeds,  must  ever  be  made  compulsory  by  enactments  or 
processes  of  Church  or  of  State. 

The  Church  courts  should  manage  the  general  agencies 
of  evangelism  and  charity ;  should  require  opportunities  to 
be  afforded  in  every  congregation  for  every  one  to  give  freely, 
and  the  communication  of  instruction  and  incitements  neces- 
sary for  weekly  or  frequent  offerings ;  and  should  exercise 
discipline  in  cases  of  persistent  omission  of  the  duty  to 
make  such  offerings  to  God  and  for  his  service,  as  for  neglect 
of  other  Christian  obligations. 

These  offerings  must  not  be  made  a  ground  of  ostentation, 
of  supposed  merit  before  God,  or  of  reliance  upon  aught 
but  the  free  grace  of  Christ  and  his  atonement  on  the  cross 
for  salvation  and  eternal  life. 


THE   MEASURE  OF   CHEISTIAN   GIVING.      267 

Special  Yo^ys  and  Gifts. 

A  considerable  gift  came  into  the  treasuiy  of  the  Board 
of  Education  recently  which  was  a  thank  offering  from  a 
lady  for  the  conversion  of  her  husband.  Some  other  gifts 
have  come  to  it  from  beds  of  sickness,  or  scenes  of  afflic- 
tion. A  gentleman  educates  tv»'0  students  for  the  min- 
istry, year  by  year,  in  the  place  of  two  sons  whom  he  had 
consecrated  to  it,  but  whom  it  pleased  Grod  to  take  from 
him. 

Neither  the  Old  nor  the  New  Testament  would  be  fliirly 
represented  did  we  not  hold  up  its  provision  for  special 
vows  and  gifts,  as  expressions  of  gratitude  for  extraordinary 
or  peculiar  mercies  from  God,  or  as  the  seals  of  covenants 
of  greater  devotion  to  him.  This  is  a  subject  with  which 
Christians  of  this  day,  and  especially  in  this  part  of  the 
world,  have  not  made  themselves  acquainted,  and  the  duties 
of  which  they  have  not  practiced.  Even  our  translation  of 
the  Scriptures  is  defective  in  rendering  the  words  which 
relate  to  it.'^  We  denominate  our  prayers  "devotion," 
though  we  neglect  entirely  the  votiue  part  of  them.  Spe- 
cial gifts  are  calculated  to  kindle  joyful  emotions,  and  to  lift 

*  Thus  in  the  following  passages  in  the  Xew  Testament,  where 
the  words  eixofj-ai  and  evxn  occur  :  Rom.  ix.  3,  "  I  could  wish  ;"  2  Cor. 
xiii.  9,  "  This  also  we  wish;"  Acts  xxviii.  29,  "  They  wished  for  the 
day  ;"  Acts  xxvi.  29,  "  I  looidd  to  God ;"  James  v.  15,  16,  "  The  prayer 
of  faith;"  " Pray  ior  one  another."  The  same  words  often  occur 
in  the  Septuagint;  as  in  the  vows  of  Jacob,  Gen.  xxviii.  20;  Han- 
nah, 1  Sam.  i.  11;  the  shipmon,  .Jonah  i.  16;  and  "to  the  Lord  for 
all  his  benefits."  Vs.  cxvi.  12-18. 


the  soul  to  a  higher  communion  with  God."^  They  are  ap- 
propriate upon  numerous  occasions,  '"''according  as  God 
hath  prospered.''^     We  may  instance  the  following : 

In  thanksgiving  for  temporal  benefits ;  bounties  of  the 
year ;  successes  in  business ;  providential  blessings. 

In  gratitude  for  spiritual  mercies ;  conversion  of  self  or 
of  kindred ;  answers  to  special  prayer. 

To  commemorate  remarkable  deliverances;  restoration 
from  sickness ;  preservation  of  life  or  property. 

Occasions  of  family  rejoicing ;  joint  gifts  from  the  mem- 
bers of  it. 

With  seasons  of  special  devotion,  fasting,  seeking  a  revi- 
val of  religion,  and  manifestations  of  God's  grace  ;  for  spe- 
cial wants  or  emergencies  of  the  work  of  Christ. 

To  celebrate  memorable  events  in  a  congregation  ;  out- 
pourings of  God's  Spirit;  interesting  events  in  the  history 
of  a  church :  ecclesiastical  and  religious  meetings. 

To  praise  God  for  civil  and  national  blessings;  to  com- 
memorate occasions  of  public  interest,  and  acknowledge 
God  as  the  author  of  all  our  political  and  social  privileges. 

With  great  appointments  for  prayer  for  conversion  of  the 
world,  or  for  the  educated  youth  of  this  generation,  or  for 
the  instrumentalities  by  which  the  earth  is  to  be  brought  to 
the  knowledge  of  its  Lord  and  God. 

On  all  such  occasions  as  these,  special  gifts  are  eminently 
suitable  and  pleasing  to  God.  He  blesses  them  "an  hun- 
dred fold"  to  those  who  bestow  them.  If  considerable, 
they  mark  eras  of  advancement  to  higher  religious  life,  and 
more  abundant  spiritual  prosperity. 

•••  Compare  Part  II.,  chap.  iv. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 
THE  HOMAGE  DUE  THE  KING. 

WITH  the  exposition  of  the  Divine  Rule  for  Giving,  and 
principles  embodied  in  it,  the  purpose  of  this  book  is 
accomplished.  The  various  pleas  for  Christian  evangeliza- 
tion, and  the  specific  uses  of  the  money  given,  are  not 
within  its  scope.  It  only  remains  to  declare,  in  a  few  con- 
cluding words,  the  conviction,  which  must  be  shared  by 
those  who  have  considered  the  facts  and  principles  related 
to  this  subject,  that  we  have  reached  a  juncture  in  the  great 
movements  of  the  Divine  government,  when  Cod  can  no 
longer  tolerate  our  past  careless,  fitful,  heartless,  and  unprof- 
itable way  of  giving  money  for  the  communication  to  our 
dying  and  yet  ignorant  fellow-men  of  the  knowledge  of 
eternal  salvation  or  eternal  damnation  by  the  divine  Son. 

The  De3l\nd  of  Homage. 
This  is  a  coronation  day!  It  is  that  final  "acceptable 
time,"  and  glorious  "day  of  salvation,"  when  the  Father 
seems  to  proclaim,  "  I  have  set  my  King  upon  my  holy  hill 
of  Zion,"  and  to  say  to  the  Son,  "Ask  of  me,  and  I  shall 
give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine  inheritance,  and  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  possession."*  It  is  re- 
*  See  Psalm  ii. ;  cii.  13-18.     Compare  Luke  iii.  4-6.    2  Cor.  vi.  2. 

269 


270     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

quired  in  monarchical  countries,  when  an  heir  takes  posses- 
sion of  a  throne,  and  a  new  reign  begins,  that  each  vassal 
shall  come  and  bring  tokens  of  his  allegiance  and  support. 
He  kneels  before  the  king  or  lord,  kisses  his  hand,  and  pre- 
sents him  with  appropriate  gifts.  It  was  so  in  Israel,"  and 
so  it  is  everywhere  to-da}'.  The  old  English  law  required  the 
expression  of  homage:\  from  a  vassal  by  his  kneeling  ungirt 
and  with  uncovered  head  before  his  lord,  and  saying,  "  I  be- 
come your  man,  from  this  day  forward,  of  life,  and.limb,  and 
earthly  worship,  and  unto  you  shall  be  true  and  faithful;" 
and  then  the  lord  kissed  him,  or  he  kissed  the  lord's  hand. 
This  act  and  kiss,  and  the  accompanying  gifts,  were  the  sign 
and  seal  of  a  mutual  covenant.  The  refusal  of  "homage  " 
by  a  vassal  was  the  sign  of  rebellion.  It  brought  forfeiture 
of  lands,  and  home,  and  protection ;  and  outlawry,  and  de- 
struction. The  long  delayed  fulfilment  of  the  covenant  of 
the  Godhead  is  now  apparently  at  hand.  In  the  stupen- 
dous warfare  of  this  century,  and  by  novel  and  mighty  en- 
gines of  destruction  on  the  land  and  on  the  sea,  the  Great 
Conqueror  is  breaking  the  power  of  his  enemies  literally,  as 
well  as  figuratively,  "  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  dashing  them 
in  pieces  as  a  potter's  vessel."  Empire  after  empire,  king- 
dom after  kingdom  has  been  suddenly,  violently,  completely 
crushed ;  it  has  been  done  by  nations  which  are  carrying  in 
their  hands  his  written  law.  Great  systems  of  superstition 
and  sin,  of  human  bondage  and  wrong,  have  been  smitten 
to  the  earth  almost  in  an  hour.     And  so  has  it  been  with 

•■•  Compare  Gea.  xli.  40,  marginal  translation,  and  1  Sam.  x.  1. 
f  From  the  French  homme,  Latin  homo,  a  man.     Coke  iqion  Lit- 
tleton ;  Institutes,  P.  I.,  b.  ii. 


THE    HOMAGE   DUE   THE   KING.  271 

families  and  with  men  who  would  not  "  ^e  instructed'^  by 
that  law.  To  the  reader,  to  every  unmindful  or  rebellious 
person  the  voice,  as  of  a  trumpet,  sounds  clear  and  loud  and 
near  at  hand :  "  Kiss  the  Son,  lest  he  be  angry,  and  ye  per- 
ish from  the  way,  when  his  wrath  is  kindled  but  a  little." 
"Let  all  that  be  round  about  him  bring  presents  unto  him 
that  ought  to  be  feared."* 

Propriety  of  the  Demand. 

The  propriety  of  the  demand  for  this  homage  from  our 
glorious  King,  was  the  theme  of  our  opening  chapters ;  it 
has  been  our  chief  theme  in  the  volume  ;  and  it  is  our  clos- 
ing theme. 

What  terrible  woes  has  the  love  of  mammon,  and  the 
disobedience  to  the  royal  claims  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
liitherto  inflicted  upon  the  souls  of  men,  upon  families, 
upon  the  Church,  and  upon  the  nations  of  the  world! 

What  vast,  universal,  joyful,  and  everlasting  blessings 
will  descend  from  heaven,  to  restore  and  beautify  the  earth, 
and  make  it  all  a  new  "  garden  of  Grod,"  when  the  full  alle- 
giance and  gifts  of  man  shall  be  rendered  again  to  his  Lord  ! 

How  much  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  justice, 
right,  wisdom,  and  beneficence,  in  human  systems,  are  those 
of  the  Rule  of  Christian  Economy  which  God  has  taught 
the  Church.     Of  what  infinite  moment  is  the  practice  of  it ! 

The  Office  of  Christian  America. 
With  what  power  and  what  wealth  has  God  endowed  this 
nation.     There  live  men  who  were  born  before  this  govern- 

*Ps.  ii.  12;  Ixxvi.  11. 


272     god's  rule  for  christian  giving. 

ment  was  born;  and  when  its  people  were  very  few,  and 
poor,  and  despised.  Alread}^  it  is  one  of  the  richest,  most 
populous,  and  most  powerful  in  the  world. 

It  is  a  fact  of  indescribable  magnitude  and  interest  that 
America  is  a  new  hemisphere;  and  that  Christianity  is 
starting  here  as  it  were  afresh  from  the  hands  of  Christ 
and  the  apostles.  She  is  stripped  of  all  the  encumbrances 
and  defilements  of  the  Old  World.  God  reserved  this  great 
and  wondrously  rich  and  beautiful  continent  for  the  final 
exhibition  of  her  heavenly  spirit  and  power.  The  nations 
of  the  world  stand  gazing  with  admiration,  and  learning 
the  simple  lessons  of  spiritual  truth  which  from  the  lips  of 
her  Lord  she  repeats  to  their  listening  ears.  It  is  our  part 
to  array  her  in  "  the  beauties  of  holiness,"  and  put  in  her 
hand  the  sceptre  of  his  strength ;  to  personify  in  her  the 
pure,  lovely,  and  beneficent  religion  which  shone  eighteen 
hundred  years  ago. 

To  America  it  is  given  to  renew  once  more  among  men 
the  influences  of  the  pure  primal  Church.  Her  place  it 
is  to  evoke  again  from  heaven  the  rushing  mighty  winds  of 
the  Spirit,  which  shall  now  swell  and  sweep  around  the 
world,  and  finally  disperse  its  clouds  of  pestilence  and 
gloom  ;  to  send  her  sons  and  daughters,  with  tongues  of 
fire,  as  witnesses  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  the 
uttermost  part  of  the  earth.  Oh,  that  she  may  have  grace 
to  bring  and  lay  her  boundless  riches  at  his  feet ! 


